Hull is preparing for its UK City of Culture year and is likely to install free Wi-Fi in the city centre as part of its promotion. ISPs would be invited to bid for the contract to run the service, worth £200,000, where the city’s CCTV cameras and street-lights will host the transmitters.
The scheme has the backing of the finance scrutiny committee of Hull City Council. The scheme will have wireless internet facility installed at health centres bus-stops and other locations around the city centre, in anticipation of the increased demand later. This scheme would also help households without an internet connection to get connectivity. Emma Warwick, the E-services manager, said they have a problem of going online and that’s more an economic problem than a technical one. The Wi-Fi hotspot network is part of a £25 million project to prepare the city ahead of Hull’s year as the City of Culture, in 2017.
Despite having some of the fastest internet speeds with KC offering superfast Lightstream service, Hull has been seen previously to be down the digital capability tables. Ofcom had found it worst ranked along with the Outer Hebrides. Hull was found with the worst mobile service in any British urban area, by consumer group RootMetrics. Hence, the new free Wi-Fi hotspots scheme. CityFibre the fibre infrastructure company, is rolling out fibre across the city to help EE and Three increase mobile internet speeds, which will also go to help other providers enter the market. Meanwhile, next generation 4G mobile internet is being offered by Vodafone and O2 in some areas.
