4 September 2018The European Commission is seeking to promote free Wi-Fi connectivity in public spaces such as parks, squares, public buildings, libraries, health centres, and museums everywhere in Europe through WiFi4EU. The budget of the WiFi4EU scheme is EUR 120 million between 2017 and 2019. It will support the installation of “state-of-the-art Wi-Fi equipment in the centres of community life.” The WiFi4EU scheme will be disbursed in a geographically balanced manner, so that high-speed connections can benefit both residents and visitors of thousands of local communities across the EU – at least 6,000 to 8,000 local communities by 2020.
The WiFi4EU scheme will be open to public sector bodies – typically local authorities. It will fund the equipment and installation costs (internet access points), while the beneficiary will pay for the connectivity (internet subscription) and maintenance in good order of the equipment for 3 years.
Local authorities will be encouraged to develop and promote their own digital services in areas such as e-government, e-health and e-tourism through a dedicated app.
Projects will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis – as soon as the first call for applications is made.
The call for applications will be launched later this month (September 2018) but you can receive further information as soon as they are published by subscribing to a mailing list, which is available here.
