Digital Cities Convention (May 2-4 in Philadelphia) is part of “a global thought-leadership series to accelerate the adoption of broadband wireless technologies for economic and social development worldwide”. According to a piece in muniwireless.com, Philadelphia was chosen to launch the Convention in light of Wireless Philadelphiaâ„¢, an ambitious initiative to strengthen the city’s economy and transform its neighborhoods. The city’s Chief Information Officer Diana Neff says the idea is to provide wireless Internet access for the purpose of helping citizens, businesses, schools, community organizations and visitors make effective use of the wireless Internet. About 40% of Philadelphia’s population still has no access to broadband – and won’t anytime soon: those neighborhoods are not attractive to present service operators given current wired-technology infrastructure costs.
