IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Kailash Neupane, spokesperson at NTA, said it has requested the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) to publish a notice regarding the starting of wireless broadband service in the country in the gadget. “Once the notice is published, we will invite national and international companies to operate wireless broadband service,” he added.

With a national target of reaching 70% broadband usage by 2025, Nigeria has made great strides, with broadband usage increasing to 44.5% in July 2022.

According to Naveed Kashif, Head of the Southern Africa Market at Nokia, optical solutions that have the scale to allow for significant growth will enable the country to meet its aggressive connectivity targets.

The new service is twice as fast as the original offering, with access speeds up from 512 kbps to 1 Mbps, and has an automatic log-in feature to make using the service easier. While the use of Wireless@SG has grown quicker than expected since it launched in 2006, with 1.5 million subscribers registered by December 2009 and usage time up from a monthly average of 2.1 hours to 6.7 hours per user, the service has received some criticism for being slow, unreliable and cumbersome.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) says the network has been vital in providing a platform for goods, music and produce to be sold online via an e-commerce Web site, while an e-government site provides the community members with access to services.

The South Korean government on Friday said it plans to provide more free Wi-Fi Internet access zones across the country, so citizens can get better access to the Web from portable devices.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, said 2,000 locations including bus terminals and hospitals have already been connected with free Wi-Fi networks, Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday.

The release of that spectrum has made it possible for a new technology to emerge — the pieces are coming together for what has become known as “super Wi-Fi.”

“It’s a new way to make efficient use of the spectrum,” said Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology. Unlicensed spectrum in the UHF band could signal a new approach to spectrum management. If all goes well with the release of TV white space, more chunks of the spectrum may be released for unlicensed use as well, Knapp said.

Under the plan, the government will build up complete wireless networks in Taiwan's major cities as well as "wireless highways" in remote areas, to enable both urban and rural areas to enjoy broadband services, Liu said.

The initiative was implemented by Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan, the government’s executive branch.

Any citizen who has a mobile number will be able to surf the 512K bandwidth internet for free at all government premises where an “iTaiwan” poster is displayed. In addition, those who already have Taipei City’s free WiFi accounts can access iTaiwan hotspots using the same credentials.

Shih Zen-chung, director of the Management Information Centre, Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) said the nationwide Wi-Fi service aims to bring convenience to people in looking online information using their electronic devices.

Wi-Fi services will be available in airports, government agencies, post offices, schools, tourist information centres, tourist attractions and train stations.

Martin Creaner, director general of the World Broadband Association, says the digital divide discussion needs to move towards a more involved, longer-term connectivity plan.

Although complex to truly quantify, the importance of broadband connectivity to socioeconomic development is undeniable. The global broadband subscription market alone was worth over $356bn by the end of 2021 and supports a wider ICT industry that typically accounts for between two per cent and seven per cent of a country’s overall GDP. The benefits of broadband, however, spread far beyond those that can be directly monetised.

The ambitious free wireless Internet service that the municipality in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, originally proposed in January 2006 to provide wireless broadband to more than a million residents has now been divided into two phases. And it has been renamed as "Wireless Prague."

Londonderry was one of the first cities in Europe to be fully wireless enabled. Even London's financial district lagged behind.

But now an expert has warned that the city's status as a flagship project is under threat from a proposed Bill at Westminster, and that that the Bill could also impact on the university.

Though connecting all rural areas with broadband is a national priority, why would anyone get fired up about blanketing this particular region with wireless broadband? For Fresno CIO Carolyn Hogg, the answer has to do with olive trees as wireless subscribers, tracking tomatoes from vine to dinner plate, self-driving tractors, and agricultural research and education that could boost the state’s economy and help feed the world. Hogg, along with a coalition of federal, state, private-sector and local interests, are working to secure high-speed wireless broadband to take the region’s agriculture to the next level.

With just a few weeks left as mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg announced today the buildout of the largest continuous free public Wi-Fi network in the nation. The network will be free for all users within a 95-city-block coverage area in Harlem where approximately 80,000 New Yorkers live, including 13,000 public housing residents. The network is scheduled for completion in 2014.

Vier U-Bahnstationen in New York erhalten demnächst drahtlose Hotspots, die den Passagieren Zugang zum Internet und Telefonie auch im gut abgeschirmten Untergrund gewähren. Innerhalb der nächsten vier Jahre sollen alle 277 Stationen des Netzes folgen. Damit nimmt die Diskussion um Internetversorgung im öffentlichen Raum wieder Fahrt auf. Expertin Ricarda Pätzold vom Institut für Stadt- und Regionalforschung an der TU Berlin hält individuelle, kulturelle Aspekte für entscheidend.

There are better ways to close the digital divide

Dallas leaders look to build their own fiber network using $82 million in taxpayer dollars in a city with no shortage of broadband options. They are moving forward with this plan despite the city having a 98% coverage rate of 5G wireless service.

The city has recently consulted on a plan to make Dallas a “smart city,” with wireless internet access everywhere within its borders.