The City of Paris aims to provide Wi-Fi internet access across the entire city by the end of next year, with at least one quarter to benefit from free connectivity.
Mayor Bertrand Delanoe outlined plans to set up 400 free Wi-Fi access points next year, according to a report by Reuters. The free access points will be located in parks, squares, libraries, and public areas and will be set up through private contracts.
In a further bid to drive high speed internet connectivity, Delanoe also proposed to cut taxes on fiber optic cable deployment. Existing cable installations would receive a tax break of around 25 percent, while new deployments could benefit from cuts as high as 90 percent on the first 400m.
Sixty percent of Parisian domestic households already have high speed broadband, and Delanoe hopes to have 80 percent of all buildings within the city connected to fiber cables by 2010. Municipal governments all over the world now consider broadband infrastructure investment an essential ingredient of their proactive economic development strategy.
Mayor Bertrand Delanoe outlined plans to set up 400 free Wi-Fi access points next year, according to a report by Reuters. The free access points will be located in parks, squares, libraries, and public areas and will be set up through private contracts.
In a further bid to drive high speed internet connectivity, Delanoe also proposed to cut taxes on fiber optic cable deployment. Existing cable installations would receive a tax break of around 25 percent, while new deployments could benefit from cuts as high as 90 percent on the first 400m.
Sixty percent of Parisian domestic households already have high speed broadband, and Delanoe hopes to have 80 percent of all buildings within the city connected to fiber cables by 2010. Municipal governments all over the world now consider broadband infrastructure investment an essential ingredient of their proactive economic development strategy.