Silicon Valley throwing in towel on pan-WiFi project?
Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, the project that once proposed an ambitious region-wide WiFi network, now says it may not happen.
“Now, I just don’t know,” says Russell Hancock, chief executive of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, to Dow Jones.
The project, launched almost two years ago, had always been somewhat hyped. At meeting after meeting, its leaders declared progress in planning, but they never clarified how exactly it would work, and who was going to pay for it. It wanted to cover 1,500 square miles and 42 cities lining the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area by next year, but it had never gained full support from cities. Municipal WiFi projects are turning out to be more expensive than expected, in part because advertisers aren’t forking out as many dollars to help support the networks.
The group does says it is wants to move forward, but now says the model must be changed for it to work. More here, from the Merc.
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