[IP] All Wired Up

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@newcastle.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 11:47:23 +0000
To: <dave@farber.net>
Subject: All Wired Up

Hi Dave:

There was an article in the "Online" section of yesterday's (UK)
Guardian which surveyed the US and UK scenes regarding the provision
of wireless internet access to entire communities. I think IP might
find the comparison it gives between Verizon's and British Telecom's
attitudes rather interesting.

Cheers

Brian


>All wired up
>
>Plans to cover huge areas with wireless internet access are
>gathering pace. And, finds Sean Dodson, companies that stand to lose
>are taking the threat seriously
>
>Thursday March 3, 2005
>The Guardian
>. . .
>US cable companies, which see citizen-funded networks as a threat to
>their commercial fiefdoms, backed a bill that effectively outlawed
>municipal wireless in the state of Pennsylvania. In December, the
>state passed a bill forbidding any municipality in the state from
>running an "information network". Only a last-minute deal with
>Verizon, the state's de facto monopoly provider of broadband, saved
>Philadelphia's vision. Verizon promised to allow the city's network,
>but at the expense of the rest of the state. At least 15 US states
>are considering similar telco-backed bills to ban municipal networks.
>. . .
>Chris Clark, chief executive for BT Wireless Broadband, said the
>UK's biggest broadband supplier would not be taking the same
>approach as Verizon. "The community wireless projects, which started
>in an environment of concern about rural service, are evolving into
>providing all sorts of innovative services," he says. "It would be a
>pity to see such innovation stifled. More recently, a number of
>metropolitan wireless projects have been in the pipeline. BT is
>fully supportive of these initiatives."
>. . .

The full story is at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1428626,00.html


-- 
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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