Speakeasy didn't join wireless net
Reports linked it with Europeans

P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

Google, Skype Technologies and others are investing a total of 18 million euros, or more than $21 million, in FON Technology SL, a service that is creating a network of people who share their wireless Internet connections with others.

But Seattle-based broadband company Speakeasy says it has not struck a deal with FON, despite reports and implications to that effect.

The confusion began with an Internet posting in which FON's founder, Argentine entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky, announced the funding and wrote that he was also "pleased to announced today that we have obtained the support of two significant ISPs," or Internet service providers.

He explained that Speakeasy "has said that they welcome FON," and that FON had signed an agreement with European ISP Glocalnet. His post added that FON "shares revenues with ISPs."

That was followed by online news reports, on such sites as Reuters and Fortune magazine, reporting that FON had signed up or reached agreement with Speakeasy.

However, Speakeasy said that wasn't the case: "No relationship, financial or otherwise, exists between Speakeasy and FON," the company said in a statement.

"The impression may have been created by FON because Speakeasy has always supported an open wireless sharing policy."

The company said one of its executives had spoken for 10 minutes on the phone with a senior FON representative late last year, but they merely decided that they might want to set up a meeting if FON representatives ever traveled to the United States.

In response to an e-mail, Varsavsky acknowledged that FON doesn't have a deal with Speakeasy and said online news reports to that effect were incorrect. He said he was referring in his original post to the fact that Speakeasy's terms of service allow for open wireless sharing.

advertising
Speakeasy had initially said it was discussing the language in Varsavsky's original posting with its lawyers. But the company later said it had contacted FON, was satisfied with the response, and planned no legal action.

FON, based in Madrid, Spain, is creating a network of Wi-Fi locations through its users in countries around the world. The network is based on members downloading and installing software that allows other users, called "foneros," to share their broadband connections for free using Wi-Fi links. FON aims to have 1 million so-called hot spots by 2010, the venture said.

Venture capital firms Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital joined Google and Skype in the group that invested in FON.