The trend for whole cities to be covered by free WiFi continues, under the UK government’s ambitious plan to create 10 ‘super connected cities’.
Manchester City Council recently announced details of their plans to cover 130 public places and transport by spring 2015.
£440,000 of £10.74m from the Urban Broadband Fund will be used to boost the local economy.
Other cities in the UK included in the free city wide wifi scheme include Cardiff, Birmingham and London.
Cities setting up free wifi solutions are facing a few key challenges – ensuring a fast connection for example. It’s also important to consider ways to monetise the WiFi to ensure the on-going success of these schemes.
Free WiFi provided through a variety of schemes is already available in cities across the world, including New York, Denver, Seattle, Taipei, Oulu and Beijing.