Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street and CIO Dianah Neff illustrate muni-broadband wireless initiative by, um, cutting a wire

On September 3, 2004, Broadband Wireless Access World interviewed Dianah Neff, the City of Philadelphia's Chief Information Officer and the official responsible for the work of the Wireless Philadelphia™ Executive Committee (WPEC).

A public ceremony on June 15, 2004, marked the public debut of Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street's wireless initiative, designed, among other things, to reduce or eliminate the digital divide within the City of Philadelphia, the fifth-largest city in the U.S., and to enhance the city's competitive position nationally and internationally.

You can listen to that interview by clicking here.

WPEC is expected to release its report and recommendations about the deployment of a municipal broadband wireless network for that city on December 10, 2004.

On November 23, 2004, The Wall Street Journal Online ran an article entitled "Telecom Giants Oppose Cities on Web Access," by Jesse Drucker. In that piece, Mr. Drucker wrote:

"However, last week, after intensive lobbying by Verizon Communications Inc., the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill with a deeply buried provision that would make it illegal for any 'political subdivision' to provide to the public "for any compensation any telecommunications services, including advanced and broadband services within the service territory of a local exchange telecommunications company operating under a network-modernization plan." Verizon is the local exchange telecommunications company for most of Pennsylvania, and it is planning to modernize the region using high-speed fiber-optic cable. The bill has 10 days for the governor to sign it or veto it."

The passage of this legislation, "Bill 30," has generated alarm in some quarters. You can access some coverage of this reaction by clicking here. You can read a typical attack on the "DSL and cable guys" in regard to this legislation on the Techdirt Corporate Intelligence web site by clicking here.

In response to these criticisms, Verizon Communications Inc., through its spokesperson Sharon Shaffer, today told Etopia Media's Broadband Wireless Access World that Bill 30, now awaiting Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's signature or veto, is not its bill and that this legislation does not "pre-empt" the deployment of a municipal broadband wireless network in Philadelphia. She told BWAW that Verizon has "no problem" with that.

Ms. Shaffer also provided Etopia Media's Broadband Wireless Access World (BWAW) with a detailed statement regarding this legislation and Verizon's attitude towards and involvement with it, along with some other comments on the whole issue of telcos and municipal broadband wireless networks. Here, in its entirety, in an e-mail to BWAW on the afternoon of November 29, 2004, is that statement from Verizon:

"First, it's important to note that last week Verizon made assurances to the city that it will not block the city's efforts to implement a Wi-Fi system. These assurances go beyond the "grandfather" provision included in House Bill 30 -- this was included in an amendment approved by the PA Senate and House,  that simply stated, meant that the City of Phila. need have only one customer in service by Jan. 2006.  Since there was still uncertainty by the City about the legislation, Verizon began the discussion with the City. But the bottom line is, we will not impede Philadelphia's ability to deploy a Wi-Fi system.

"Second, claims that broadband access is available in only 60% of Philadelphia aren't correct.  Verizon alone offers DSL service on about 96 percent of our lines in the city, and I'm sure Comcast (largest Cable provider) will tell you a similar story.

"Third, what's lost in the publicity swirling around the Philadelphia Wi-Fi issue is that the provision dealing with municipalities and telecom services was part of this legislation since its introduction about two years ago -- that's longer than 18 mos. before the city's Sept. 1 announcement about WiFi.  It's a small part of a 55-page bill -- House Bill 30 -- that will bring many consumer, education and economic development benefits to Pennsylvanians if signed by Gov. Rendell.  House Bill 30:

"Requires Verizon and other incumbent local phone companies to deploy broadband service across their service areas in Pennsylvania -- the most comprehensive requirement in the country.

"Provides over $40 million in services and discounts directly to schools to make broadband available to all students in the commonwealth.

"Annually, up to $5 million will be available to educate communities about broadband and to aggregate demand for such service.

"Overall, up to $100 million in new benefits will flow to Pennsylvania's communities.

"Establishes several economic development programs that will further facilitate broadband deployment throughout the state.

"Keeps phone rates affordable for residential customers, capping at the rate of inflation potential rate increases on services like basic local dial tone and usage.

"Offers automatic notification about telecom Lifeline programs for persons enrolling in low-income programs.

"The bill also allows Lifeline customers to subscribe to an unlimited number of other telecom services, like call waiting or caller ID.

"Note:

"As to the question of why a provision is included in the legislation about municipalities providing telecom services, under HB 30 Verizon and other incumbent local phone companies are required to deploy broadband services to 100% of our customers in Pennsylvania. So it's reasonable that the legislation gives us some assurance that we'll be able to sell the services we're deploying and not be faced with a government competitor that stands to benefit from not paying taxes and other fees, and getting access to cheap capital.[bolding added] We're also making a huge investment ($8.5 billion over past 10 years for Verizon alone) and we believe we should have the opportunity to make a return on that investment.  That said, we never intended to stand in the way of Philadelphia's proposed Wi-Fi program and, as I've said, we've made assurances to the city that we won't.

"House Bill 30 provides the right incentives and mechanisms to foster telecom competition, accelerate broadband deployment to meet customers' needs and stimulate economic development. It brings state law and regulation more in line with the competitive marketplace and creates a framework that encourages investment, innovation and risk-taking by the state's telecommunication providers."