Monday, October 24, 2005

More on Milwaukee Wireless Project: Something Fishy Right after posting Saturday on my gut feelings about Midwest Fiber Networks' muni wireless proposal, I googled a little deeper. My old friend Michael Horne at MilwaukeeWorld has a much better researched piece that put some meat on those suspicions. If you search the Milwaukee Business Journal archives for Midwest Fiber Networks, you'll find three interesting pieces by Phill Trewyn as well. At least, once you get past the endless registration requests. The one thing the stories have in common are comments from company co-founder Donna Raffaelli-Meyer claiming backing or partnerships with various unnamed big players for the project in question. In the citywide-wireless story, this takes the form of: Midwest Fiber will work with other "high-profile international service providers and equipment manufacturers" to build the network, according to Barrett. Raffaelli-Meyer declined to disclose the partners' names. "We're still in negotiations with some of them," she said. Something tells me city fathers and mothers should hold on to their cash holders before fast-tracking this gift horse. 10:53:15 PM    comment []