City of Philadelphia working to set up high speed link between buildings

It’s well known Philadelphia’s old gas mains and bridges need replacing. The city’s information infrastructure needs an overhaul as well.Philadelphia City Councilman Ed Neilson says he was surprised to find out that some city facilities are not online.

“The Commissioner of Parks actually testified to that the other that that he has facilities that do not have access to the Internet,” Neilson said.

The City of Philadelphia’s first ever Chief Innovation Officer Adel Ebeid says as part of negotiations with Comcast they are working on setting up a fiber optic system to link city buildings.

“We are asking Comcast to provide us with what’s called ‘dark fiber’ that we would light up to connect municipal buildings so that we can deliver services more efficiently,” Ebeid said.

Council plans hearings on the proposed franchise agreement with Comcast to start April 27.  The deal is expected to be ready for a vote in the Fall.