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May 16, 2008 11:55 am US/Eastern

Public Costs Mount For Cumberland Wireless Network

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) ―

A wireless broadband network touted as an economic development tool for Cumberland has fallen short of revenue projections and has led to additional costs to taxpayers.

The Cumberland Times-News reports that the public-private consortium Allconet has asked the city, Allegany County and the county's school system for $631,000 to pay for system improvements -- or risk losing the service altogether.

In 2005, the public entities signed an agreement authorizing a company called Conxx to use the homegrown Allconet system as a model for marketing the wireless technology to prospective customers.

But Allconet officials say the project hasn't generated as much revenue as expected, while costs to provide the service to local government agencies and private citizens have increased.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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