ATLANTA—EarthLink Inc. launched its municipal Wi-Fi network in Anaheim with considerable fanfare, but the company also quietly inked deals to resell Internet access on its muni Wi-Fi networks to DirecTV and AOL.
EarthLink said the agreements are in line with the company’s “commitment to open access,” and said it also plans to partner with local Internet service providers wanting to provide Wi-Fi service in their markets.
EarthLink didn’t disclose details about the reseller agreements, but the likeliest markets for DirecTV and AOL Internet access via EarthLink’s Wi-Fi networks are Anaheim, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Orleans—all cities that EarthLink is unwiring with Wi-Fi. However, in each market, the resellers will probably give EarthLink time to tweak its Wi-Fi coverage, thereby sidestepping much of the customer frustrations that go hand in hand with just about any type of network launch and its associated technical snafus.
Given that AOL is a division of Time Warner Inc.—which, along with other cable operators, formed a joint venture with Sprint Nextel Corp. to resell cellular service—it’s not so hard to imagine that Time Warner and AOL might move to offer bundled services for cellular and Wi-Fi access.
