Civic News
Wireless Philadelphia

City of Philadelphia to buy municipal WiFi network from Network Acquisition

The network will be utilized by the city for municipal services, like a public safety communications network.

A screenshot from Technically Philly's Wireless Philadelphia interactive timeline.

The City of Philadelphia plans to purchase for $2 million the city-wide wireless network once known as Wireless Philadelphia, currently owned and operated by Network Acquisition, the Inquirer reports.

Check out Technically Philly’s multimedia Flash timeline that follows the history of the storied Wireless Philadelphia network

The network will be utilized by the city for municipal services, like its public safety network and for its mobile city workers. Free access will remain available to the public in “targeted public spaces,” according to a City press release published by Philebrity. The City says it will need to invest $17 million through 2015 to improve the network.

The City has been in talks with Network Acquisition since it began convening stakeholders earlier this year to talk about the future of Philadelphia’s technology ecosystem, as we reported in our comprehensive Digital Philadelphia coverage.

Since the network was purchased from Earthlink by Network Acquisition, the network has seen its adoption increase from 10,000 unique users to 170,000,

Councilman Bill Green said at a broadband policy panel in September. Green, who has long expounded the savings benefits of owning a municipal network, said that the city “blew it big time” when it did not purchase the network when Earthlink was pulling out of the deal last year.

The deal is pending City Council approval and is expected to begin operation in the spring.

Companies: City of Philadelphia / Earthlink

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

The man charged in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had a ton of tech connections

From rejection to innovation: How I built a tool to beat AI hiring algorithms at their own game

How a laid-off AI enthusiast pivoted to become a founder — while holding down a day job

Where are the country’s most vibrant tech and startup communities?

Technically Media