Municipal wireless networks have been a hot topic of discussion over the last few years ever since Philadelphia announced an initiative to blanket the city with a broadband wireless network. But recently, the hype has given way to reality with operators realizing that these ventures aren't just for the social good, they need to make money. EarthLink – the operator behind the Philadelphia network – announced earlier this month that it was going to scale back spending on network deployment and only focus on municipalities where there was a greater chance of making a profit.

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