eWeek argues that EarthLink's municipal entry is more about its future than Philadelphia's: A smart article outlines the challenges that EarthLink and other providers face in light of the Supreme Court's Brand-X decision which prevents the requirement of competitive access to cable operators' end-user data services. That coupled with piles of decisions that give ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) almost total power over their phone wiring for competing DSL providers means that EarthLink needs to cut the cord and use as little incumbent-owned wire and fiber as possible. Municipal wireless with guaranteed city telecom business is a very effective and cost-contained way to experiment.
(Two notes on the eWeek story: Esme is not a he, and that quote from Doug Luce cited from my site is from more than a year ago--not a recent comment.)