Earthling

Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.

I've seen a few articles online this morning suggesting that EarthLink is getting out of the municipal Wi-Fi business. This is not the case. After checking with our leadership this morning, I want to confirm two points:

1. We will continue to operate our existing municipal wireless networks in cities like Philadelphia.
   
2. In the other markets such as San Francisco, we're approaching city officials to discuss needed changes in our business model, which includes them stepping up to some sort of anchor tenancy agreement. Our CEO has stated publicly that he is not willing to invest any more money in new network buildouts under the old business model: coming in up front with the cash to build out the network and trying to buy customers one at a time.

If you'd like to hear more on this question, EarthLink CEO Rolla Huff discussed it on yesterday's EarthLink Restructuring Call for Investors(free registration required).