John Scrivner wrote:
I have not been contacted and really have never heard what you are
talking about. Can you tell us more about what you are seeing and who
is reporting this?
There doesn't seem to be anybody going on record yet, but there have
been negative reports coming out of Anaheim, Philadelphia, San Diego,
New Orleans, and Mountain View that I have personally heard from people
working on the project.
I can agree with the "most suited" statement. I have no idea why a
WISP would turn down a chance to be part of a muni project. In my home
town the only muni project is my company's effort and we work well
with the city government. Turning away from that chance is turning
down free access to money, tower space and opportunity.
Acting as a consultant for another operator doesn't give you free access
to money or tower space. It gives the other opportunity your expertise
in exchange for money. Why help a competitor kill your business? For
example, Earthlink has gone on record stating that plan to use their
"distribution" network (Canopy) to sell T1 replacement services. That is
in direct competition to any existing fixed wireless network from both a
business as well as spectrum standpoint.
I do not know what the Atlanta RFP is. Who is involved? What is this
opportunity? Who is ignoring you? I am sure others want to learn more
about this too.
The Atlanta RFP is for muni wireless. Many major companies from AT&T to
Sprint and IBM to HP along with Earthlink are expecting to somehow be
involved and/or bid. Without stating directly to who we are or are not
talking to, I can say that we see this as a possible threat to our
business. We certainly don't want to see another operator placing
hundreds of Canopy and Tropos units throughout our market and selling
competitive services to what we offer.
Personally, I see the recruitment efforts as acknowledgment that running
a large wireless network isn't as simple as the radio vendors make it
out to be. Further, I don't see how Earthlink becoming a successful
wireless network operator is a good thing for any of us. Unless of
course one of our respective companies is actually operating part or all
of the network.
-Matt
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