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Berlin plans free citywide Wi-Fi

February 26, 2009 at 2:16 PM by Esme Vos

Berlin, Germany has very ambitious plans to provide free Wi-Fi access throughout the city, starting with a pilot project around the city’s main streets, Unter den Linden, Friedrichstrasse, Kurfürstendamm and Tauentzienstrasse. If the city is pleased with the results (and Deutsche Telekom doesn’t get in the way, which is what all the European telecom incumbents have been doing to these types of projects), residents will get Wi-Fi access throughout the city center (35 square miles).

Read more about the Berlin citywide Wi-Fi project.

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2 Comments on “Berlin plans free citywide Wi-Fi”

  1. Brett Glass Says:
    March 5th, 2009 at 11:14 am

    A non-solution to a non-problem. Berlin already has great Internet access from private providers. Why harm them?

  2. Esme Vos Says:
    March 5th, 2009 at 11:29 am

    Obviously because you are a wireless ISP, you don’t want anyone to compete with you.

    It is highly unlikely that the city of Berlin, on its own, will launch free Wi-Fi service. More like is they will partner with a service provider to do this. That is what the city of Paris has done. They partnered with SFR and are now delivering free Wi-Fi in public libraries, parks and government buildings. But that did not stop France Telecom, which still has 85% of the fixed line market in France, from suing Paris.

    What’s interesting is that Vivendi (which has a controlling stake in SFR) is now suing France Telecom for unfair competition.

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