The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Scott Leith on Friday reported that Rolla Huff, who recently took over as CEO of EarthLink, has stated that the company will be cutting its spending on municipal Wi-Fi systems.

"The Wi-Fi business, as currently constituted, will not provide an acceptable return," Huff said.

"This is a big switch from the recent past, when EarthLink touted deals such as one in Philadelphia," Leith writes.

According to Government Technology's Wayne Hanson, Huff also added, "We're going to look for municipal governments to step up and become a meaningful anchor tenant on completion of the build" - which, of course, now means cities will face the same requirements from EarthLink that they do from MetroFi.

More here from WRAL ... and more here from Wi-Fi Networking News.