The European Commission has set out to make Wi-Fi connectivity available free of charge in public spaces in all European Union member states through the Wifi4EU: universal access to the Internet in the EU.
The aim is to offer universal quality Internet access (with a minimum connection of 30 Mb/s) to residents or people passing through the centres of public life in the European Union. This means covering parks, squares, libraries and, of course, public buildings.
The European Union will finance the materials and costs for the installation of state-of-the-art wifi equipment in the centres of public life; Wifi4EU has an initial budget of 120 million euros.
Between 6,000 and 8,000 communities will benefit from the Wifi4EU project, in a geographically balanced manner, whose entities with a public service mission will have to pay for Internet subscription and equipment maintenance.
Wifi4EU aims to encourage local authorities to create and promote their own digital services in areas such as e-government, e-health and e-tourism by achieving 40 to 50 million free wifi connections every day.
Próximos pasos
The Wifi4EU: universal internet access in the EU project was launched in November 2016. A pilot with a budget of €20 million and a reach of 1,000 communities is expected to be launched by the end of 2017. The full roll-out of the project would be completed by 2020.
In the coming months, approval for the WiFi4EU system is expected in the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers and the first online call for projects will be published.
Projects will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. Communities should propose equipping areas where there is not yet a public or private Wi-Fi service with similar characteristics to avoid duplication.
This is intended to be a project that will help bridge the digital divide that many regions suffer from due to connectivity problems. Many localities that appear on the map of Spain without Wi-Fi published by El Mundo will be able to benefit.
At Esferize we have been deploying public Internet access solutions since 2004 with our Magallanes connection control and optimisation product. We also work with the most important Wi-Fi technology manufacturers in the market.
