Google, Earthlink Clear MuniFi Hurdle

On Friday, Google and Earthlink came to finalized terms on the contract to build infrastructure for a free wireless network for the city of San Francisco. The city's Board of Supervisors must now approve the deal in order for the companies to move forward with construction. It looks like Earthlink have cleared the first hurdle in the process of building the MuniFi network for the city. Finalizing the partnership agreement, however, will probably turn out to be the simplest part of this whole endeavor. Back in October, Google met with local politicians to explain how the two companies planned to implement the project, and were met with a less than warm reception. Davis Freeberg was on hand, and Now that everyone has agreed in principle to how the partnership between the two companies should look, the next obstacle lies in selling the idea to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, some of which are looking to supplant the effort by suggesting the city build its own municipally owned network, without the help of Google and Earthlink. "We should stop and look and not just leap just because the mayor wants to be able to sell this sizzle," says city supervisor Jake McGoldrick as quoted in a Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl Joe is a staff writer for latest ebusiness news