MetroFi, whose CEO Chuck Haas predicted nationwide WiFi in “five years,” has signed a deal with Microsoft to deliver a local portal and incorporate adCenter technology (and geotargeted ads) for MetroFi’s soon-to-launch Portland WiFi Network. MetroFi won this contract in April and is going to initially deploy the free, ad-supported WiFi network in a two-square mile area in downtown Portland.
While there’s no mention of it, this probably means that SuperPages’ advertisers will get that distribution as well because that’s who is currently supplying the local ads (PPC, PPCall) to Live Local. I wonder also whether, eventually, Live Local 3-D would be part of this deployment. Right now the service is too slow to work on a WiFi connection, however.
GigaOm has some additional detail and here’s the AP story in the WSJ (sub req’d).
Screenwerk 