Via MuniWireless, an LAT story on an unexpected problem with rolling out muniwifi in Southern California: the electrical utility wants its several pounds of flesh:
“We’ve had almost a full year of discussions with Edison that haven’t really gotten us anywhere,†Desforges said. “They’re always very friendly and they’re not saying no, but they’re not moving forward either.†The closest Edison could come to a resolution, he said, was to suggest that the city could pay what cellphone carriers pay to attach antennas to utility poles — as much as $2,000 a month per pole. MetroFi, in contrast, said that it pays other utilities an average of $36 a year per pole.
While Toronto Hydro did apparently have issues with not enough poles in some areas, at least it owned the poles it needed to use.