“Shortly after learning of the New Orleans plan for free city-wide wireless internet, Bellsouth Corp. withdrew an offer to donate a damaged building to be used for police headquarters. According to the Washington Post, ‘Bill Oliver, angrily rescinded the offer of the building in a conversation with New Orleans homeland security director Terry Ebbert.’”
Full Story Here.
I understand that Bellsouth interprets city wifi as some kind of competition(ISPs have tried to make those illegal, with some success). That said, I don’t see Evian pulling donations because the same government provides free water.
WiFi is no competition to dedicated DSL lines. Network congestion makes the speeds significantly inferior. Plus, Internet is becoming a necessary ammenity. All that to say that reguardless of the government’s move, BellSouth’s customer base is well secured. To pull this donation because of such a misguided and selfish motivation is one of the coldest things I’ve witnessed a company do publicly.