Wi-Fi Coming Downtown Soon
Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 00:00 CDT
Aug. 20--High-speed wireless Internet service is coming to Lexington's downtown business district as early as September.
Mayor Teresa Isaac signed an agreement with SkyTel yesterday for a one-year pilot program that might be extended later to other parts of the city.
SkyTel, a division of MCI, will install the system, commonly known as Wi-Fi, at no cost to the city and will recover its costs by charging individual users, said Julian Beard, Lexington's economic development director.
The system will allow most laptop and handheld computer users to connect to the Internet when they are outdoors -- or in places that do not have wired Internet connections.
Beard and Isaac said Wi-Fi is considered essential by high-tech employers.
"Very few cutting-edge companies would consider locating somewhere where there wasn't Wi-Fi," Isaac said.
Beard called Wi-Fi "a qualifier" for economic development. Like the ATM, "it's one of those things people expect to find whether they use it or not," he said.
Wi-Fi is already available on much of the University of Kentucky campus and at some restaurants and businesses downtown.
The SkyTel system will initially cover the rectangle bounded roughly by Third Street, Midland Avenue, Maxwell Street and Newtown Pike.
SkyTel will lease space on traffic signal poles and will buy electricity from the local government for the Wi-Fi system.
Construction will begin in September and should be completed within 30 days under a contract approved Thursday by the Urban County Council.
"I felt like doing a triple leap over my desk," Beard said, when he found out Lexington was one of several cities selected by SkyTel for the pilot project.
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MCIP,
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)
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