WiFi has become an essential part of our daily lives, influencing culture and tourism. Through the WiFi4EU initiative, local businesses, residents, and tourists can benefit from free public WiFi access across Europe. Zyxel and its partners have begun testing WiFi4EU in two Spanish municipalities, Quintanas de Gormaz and Miño de San Esteban, both in Castile and León. The goal is to implement the initiative in 17 other Spanish and Central European cities and continue expanding until it covers all of Europe.

Through its partnership with Octopus WiFi, Zyxel ensures compliance with all conditions stipulated in the grant agreement, including EU requirements regarding visual identity, usage, and network quality. As this is a public WiFi network, all users are guaranteed compliance with data processing and storage regulations (GDPR).

Application process

To be eligible for the WiFi4EU initiative, municipalities must apply for funding and designate a suitable supplier to install the necessary equipment. Once the application is approved, the supplier will receive the funding to begin network installation, as the municipality is not directly involved in the financing. The grant covers the installation of all necessary equipment, including access points, cabling, and switches.

Elements of the WiFi4EU package

The network operates on a cloud platform and is offered as a SaaS service with tiered licenses, eliminating the need for additional hardware installation. Zyxel is contributing its latest WiFi 6 WAX510D and NWA110AX technologies to support the initiative. The platform is multi-vendor, allowing integration with most common WLAN solution providers. As the initiative is still in its testing phase, vendors have access to traffic and usage reports to assess network load and identify potential bottlenecks. This is all included in the WiFi4EU package, which features a real-time monitoring system.

As part of the package, the vendors have developed the WiFi4EU Portal, which includes a template with Policy Application Components, or "snipets," that meet all WiFi4EU requirements. The portal itself complies with WiFi4EU's visual requirements and supports 24 predefined language codes, making it easy for tourists to access.

"The range of language codes will help facilitate expansion across Europe, as both the network and its accompanying platforms are already compatible with major European cities," explains Marce de Miguel Fernández, Head of Pre-Sales and Business Development at Octopus WiFi. "For those who need to travel or visit other cities, whether for work or pleasure, WiFi4EU provides complete connectivity. They can access the network with the assurance that it is completely secure."

Optimize the management of WiFi access points for visitors

Thanks to the partnership with Boundless Digital, the WiFi4EU package includes a controllerless authentication platform in SaaS mode, enabling WiFi access for visitors and ensuring compliance with WiFi4EU requirements. With built-in content filtering systems, cities and providers can protect users from external threats and malicious content, while guaranteeing optimal network quality of service.

The portal also allows participating cities to securely collect user data using minimal identifiers. The system can track the number of visitors currently connected to the network, who they are, and how long they stay.

“For many European cities, visitors represent a significant part of their economy and daily business, and WiFi networks play a vital role in supporting tourism and local businesses,” explains Noel-Edouard Chenu, founder of Boundless Digital. “The analytics on guest WiFi usage included in the WiFi4EU portal can help city councils monitor the daily activity of their visitors and provide them with valuable data in this area.”.

“We’ve seen a positive response from the two pilot projects in Spain. We believe the WiFi4EU initiative will be a great success across Europe once it’s available, thanks to the strong partnership between the three providers,” explains Patrick Hirscher, Director of Wireless Market Development for EMEA at Zyxel. “We’re eager to expand this initiative to other cities that want to request and implement this new generation of public WiFi.”.