EU initiative, WiFi4EU, promotes free access to Wi-Fi connectivity for citizens in public spaces including parks, squares, public buildings, libraries, health centres and museums in municipalities throughout Europe.
The WiFi4EU initiative, which has a budget of 120 million euro, provides municipalities with the opportunity to apply for vouchers to the value of €15,000. The vouchers can then be used to install Wi-Fi equipment in public spaces that are not already equipped with a free Wi-Fi hotspot.
President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, said “for everyone to benefit from connectivity it should not matter where you live or how much you earn. So today we propose to provide every town and every city in Europe with free wireless Internet access around the main centres of public life.”
The individual municipalities that receive the vouchers will decide on the “public life centres” where the WiFi4EU wireless access points will be installed. In addition, these vouchers can also be used to partially finance a higher value project. The funds can be used to buy new equipment or renew old equipment by replacing it with newer and better quality equipment.
Over 500 towns in Spain have already successfully applied for the finances to install free public Wifi including the likes of Los Montesinos, Elche and Orihuela.