Cole Reinwand, VP, Product Strategy, EarthLink

On October 3, 2005, Wireless Philadelphia, a non-profit group incorporated by Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street, announced that "it has entered into final contract negotiations with Earthlink to develop and build the nation's largest municipal Wi-Fi broadband network."

Today, Broadband Wireless Access World spoke with Cole Reinwand, formerly Director of Next Generation Broadband, and now VP, Product Strategy, EarthLink, about EarthLink's role in the Wireless Philadelphia project and about the present status and future growth of municipal broadband Internet access systems generally.

During that interview, Mr. Reinwand indicated that the prohibition against municipal wireless systems in the State of Pennsylvania, enacted into law by way of "House Bill 30" last year at the urging of incumbent telco Verizon, which at the last minute granted a waiver of such prohibition to the City of Philadelphia alone among Pennsylvania's cities, was now the subject of legislative reconsideration:

BWAW: Before Philadelphia went ahead with Wireless Philadelphia, Verizon did everything it could to stop it and there was a lot of legislation and back and forth last fall about this. What's the situation now vis a vis Wireless Philadelphia's right to do this and what do you see emerging as the patterns on state and federal levels to regulate it?...

Reinwand: As far as I know in Philadelphia there's no issue. Verizon granted an exception to the City of Philadelphia to proceed with their project.

BWAW: But what about the rest of the state? Could you do what you're doing in Philadelphia in the rest of the state?

Reinwand: I think that right now there's still some open discussion about what's happening. The state is holding hearings at this point and talking about extending the deadline which was January 1, 2006 for when that bill would be enacted. So I think there's still an open debate about what should happen. Certainly communities are making their voice heard.

BWAW: You're saying the provisions in House Bill 30 that was implemented at the behest of Verizon in Pennsylvania is up for legislative re-negotiation?

Reinwand: That's my understanding, that the actual act doesn't take effect until January 1, 2006. That's when any cities that have begun their projects before then would be grandfathered, and I think there's some discussion of extending that deadline so there can be more of a public debate about whether municipalities should be allowed to determine what their needs are.

BWAW: If Philadelphia is looking good, do you think that would encourage the rest of the state to demand they have the right to do the same thing?

Reinwand: I think a lot of people in the state don't want options taken away from them at this point.

You can listen to this exclusive 38-minute audio interview with Cole Reinwand, VP, Product Strategy, EarthLink, in its entirety, by clicking here.

For more information about EarthLink's new Municipal Broadband department, click here.