Economy
EU bodies nod on free WiFi for European towns with no Internet coverage
The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission reached tonight a political agreement on the WiFi4EU initiative and its funding which supports installing free public Wi-Fi hotspots in local communities across the EU: in public squares, piazzas, parks, hospitals and other public spaces, the EU executive said in a statement.
The initiative will be funded from the current EUR 1 trillion EU budget, which runs from 2014 to 2020.
The specific sources of the funding will be finalised in the ongoing legislative discussions on the review of the current Multiannual Financial Framework programme.
Local authorities will be able to apply for funding once the system is set up. A grant allocated in the form of vouchers will be used to purchase and install state-of-the art equipment, i.e. local wireless access points, while the public authority will cover the running costs of the connection itself.
Reuters noted that the political compromise will need to be followed by a technical agreement over how the EU budget's resources should be used to fund the new project. The EU budget cannot be increased, but funds can be partly shifted. New resources could also come from fines to companies or other one-off revenues, it added.
Front page photo by AFP/ Hoang Dinh Nam
The initiative will be funded from the current EUR 1 trillion EU budget, which runs from 2014 to 2020.
The specific sources of the funding will be finalised in the ongoing legislative discussions on the review of the current Multiannual Financial Framework programme.
Local authorities will be able to apply for funding once the system is set up. A grant allocated in the form of vouchers will be used to purchase and install state-of-the art equipment, i.e. local wireless access points, while the public authority will cover the running costs of the connection itself.
Reuters noted that the political compromise will need to be followed by a technical agreement over how the EU budget's resources should be used to fund the new project. The EU budget cannot be increased, but funds can be partly shifted. New resources could also come from fines to companies or other one-off revenues, it added.
Front page photo by AFP/ Hoang Dinh Nam
