Third call for WiFi4EU on 19 September
The third invitation for EU municipalities to apply for the WiFi4EU program launched on September 19, 2019.
Europe is funding municipalities across Europe with €27.7 million to create free Wi-Fi in public spaces. With the third call, Europe is funding municipalities – across Europe – with €27.7 million to create free Wi-Fi in public spaces. In total, the Commission will distribute 1,780 vouchers, worth €15,000 each, to Europe’s municipalities. The Commission selects the projects for funding on the basis of the order of expression of interest. Municipalities will use the vouchers to set up free Wi-Fi networks in public spaces. Spaces will include town centres, public libraries, museums, public parks or squares.
It was in November 2018 when the first rally for WiFi4EU took place. The goal was to collect more than thirteen thousand vouchers with a budget of €42 million, and it turned out to be highly successful. 2,800 vouchers were distributed.
The Project
In 2019, a second call for 5.1 million euro machine-writing contracts was made and over 10,000 people applied for the 3,400 machine-writing positions. With the vouchers claimed, the launch of the pilot is a huge success. There is another project for which municipalities show great interest. As with the WiFi4EU project, the project recieved funding from the European Union. A European Parliament-backed project aims to make wireless internet available in every part of the continent by 2020. It will filter out users only if they’re in a remote area. Many more locations across the whole of Europe will have phones, tablets and other services due to this network coverage.
Corporations can use vouchers to buy and install wireless access points in their target public life centers. Each municipality will cover the cost of maintaining the network. Every EU state will receive a minimum of 15 vouchers as well. European Union, expectedly, will allocate EUR 120 million from 2020 to 8,000 municipalities in the whole EU.
Private networks funded by WiFi4EU will be free of charge, without advertisements, and won’t collect personal data. These networks will be similar to those offered by public services or private companies.
The WiFi4EU initiative, announced in September 2016 by President Juncker, is part of the ambitious reform of the EU’s telecoms rules that focuses on increasing connectivity across Europe & boosting competitiveness while improving citizens’ rights.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
