In 2006 American ISP EarthLink won the contract to build a Wi-Fi network in the city of Philadelphia on the east coast of the US. According the metro Philadelphia, the company invested US$20 million in the project and completed 80 percent of it until the harsh reality that it was doomed started to sink in.

EarthLink and the City of Philadelphia had negotiated a contract that would ensure minimum, if any, taxpayer burden to create the city-wide network. Yet just over two years after the contract was signed EarthLink has signalled its intent to abandon the project. EarthLink has also abandoned similar projects in the New Orleans, San Francisco, Corpus Christie and Houston, among others. In some cases the cities have decided to continue to run the Wi-Fi networks at their own expense, but in cases such as New Orleans, it wasn’t financially possible.

The Philadelphia case is particularly relevant to Sydney’s plans as Philadelphia has roughly the same population as Sydney. Although America’s economy would hardly be described as booming at the moment, the sheer depth of it generally means it’s healthier than Australia’s in terms of finding financial support for projects such as free Wi-Fi networks. If Philadelphia and other cities in the US couldn’t do it, there is little chance that Australia’s biggest city could.

While it’s disappointing that the State Government has backed out of the plan  there was no guarantee that Sydney’s Wi-Fi network wouldn’t have ended up in the same situation.