How you can bring free WiFi to your local cities and towns
A partnership between Zyxel and Octopus WiFi is helping municipalities take advantage of the WiFi4EU initiative to bring free WiFi to their citizens – and it’s also a good opportunity for Zyxel reseller partners all over Europe, says Patrick Hirscher, EMEA Wireless Market Development Manager at Zyxel.
You may well have heard about the WiFi4EU initiative. It promotes the idea of free access to WiFi connectivity for citizens in public spaces throughout Europe. Towns, cities, and communities can apply for vouchers of up to €15,000 to have an appropriate WiFi solution installed by a specialist partner.
Naturally, we have seen this as a good opportunity for Zyxel and its reseller partners to help more people benefit from our wireless technologies. To that end, we have been working hard with our industry partners and Hotspot specialist Octopus WiFi, to bring a complete solution together that meets all the technical and regulatory requirements of WiFi4EU.
Up and running
We are pleased to report that this work has now started to pay off – two municipalities in Spain have already been equipped with a combined Zyxel and Octopus solution and 17 additional projects are ongoing throughout the country.
Zyxel and Octopus WiFi are now ready to take the offering to the rest of the EU area. We are doing everything we can to get reseller partners involved and to make sure that their local council or authority knows about the scheme and the benefits it can bring to citizens and the local economy. There is a lot of interest already in many countries and we expect many more towns and cities to apply for the grant over the coming months, so now is a good time to get on-board.
What’s great about our joint proposition with Octopus WiFi is that we have proven it works. The two installations so far – in the municipalities of Quintanas de Gormaz and Miño de San Esteban – have been a great success. The cities themselves are pleased with the results and the local Zyxel partner has received the grant payment for the supply and installation of the solutions directly from the EU.
Attracting visitors
This is a great scheme and one that can benefit any community throughout the EU region that wants to bring free WiFi to its citizens in all public areas such as parks, pedestrianised urban areas, libraries, museums, health centres and so on. With the huge disruption that has been caused to business and to tourism over the past few months, Europe’s towns and cities need as much help as they can get in making their municipality as attractive as possible to visitors.
WiFi is so important to everyone now, both for work and for leisure, so making it freely available is a really good idea. If you would like to find out more about the WiFi4EU scheme and how Zyxel can help you to get involved, please contact your local Zyxel office.
