EarthLink got the go-ahead Friday from the New Orleans City Council for a contentious plan to build a Wi-Fi network much like the one currently offering free services to residents, some of whom still have no regular telephone service, in the hurricane-ravaged city. The network will offer free service to residents and visitors while the city continues to rebuild. EarthLink will also offer a faster service, delivering 1Mbps uplink and downlink and customer service to paying customers.EarthLink will make the network open so that other service providers can offer competing services to users over its infrastructure.Soon after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans last year, the city decided to open up to the general public the Wi-Fi network that had been used by city workers. Then late last year, the city said it was expanding that network and would continue to offer free access. But earlier this year, reports surfaced that BellSouth, the local telephone company in New Orleans, was opposing that plan. Like some other U.S. states, Louisiana law forbids municipalities from offering communications services that compete with commercial operations. Such laws were often hastily pushed through local governments with the backing of incumbent operators that were worried about the growing enthusiasm for and potential competition from city-sponsored free Wi-Fi networks. New Orleans’s law includes an exception for emergency situations. BellSouth has largely denied that it has worked against the city’s plans. More recently, EarthLink’s name began to pop up as a possible operator to build the network instead of the city of New Orleans. EarthLink said the free offering will be available only for a limited time. EarthLink has won contracts to build Wi-Fi networks in other cities including Philadelphia and San Francisco.-Nancy Gohring, IDG News ServiceFor related news coverage, read San Francisco Wi-Fi Plan to Face More Heat, NYC Sets Deadline for Wi-Fi in Parks and BT to Blanket 12 U.K. Cities With Wi-Fi.Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content BrandPost Retail innovation playbook: Fast, economical transformation on Microsoft Cloud For retailers, tight integration of data and systems is the antidote to a challenging economy. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 3 mins Retail Industry Digital Transformation BrandPost How retailers are empowering business transformation with TCS and Microsoft Cloud AI-powered omnichannel integration and a strong, secure digital core lets retailers innovate across four primary areas while staying compliant, maintaining security and preventing fraud. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 4 mins Retail Industry Cloud Computing BrandPost How to Build ROI from Cloud Migration This whitepaper and webcast can help you calculate the ROI and create a business case for modernizing your legacy applications to the Microsoft Cloud. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 1 min Retail Industry Cloud Computing BrandPost How to power a sustainable enterprise on Microsoft Cloud In this eBook, we’ll follow the journey of Amal Skye, a fictitious woman who is committed to living in a way that preserves the planet for the future —and how businesses like Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft are making that possi By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 1 min Retail Industry Green IT Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe