Today, m3connect – Germany’s leading Wi-Fi service provider – is launching an enterprise-grade, low-cost and EC-compliant service that will allow local governments to offer WiFi4EU free Wi-Fi services according to the European Commission’s roaming and authentication guidelines.

 

The service will be offered as a plug-and-play solution requiring only a simple tunnelled IP-connection from the local WiFi4EU network to m3connect’s cloud-based service platform located at m3connect‘s headquarter in Aachen, Germany. The service will be technically compliant with the European Commission’s specification for ‘Phase 0’ of WiFi4EU roaming and authentication. Pre-configured VPN router hardware can also be provided upon request and the service will support the hardware of any Wi-Fi vendor.

 

“It’s extremely important for the success of the WiFi4EU project that users across Europe can access the free Wi-Fi through a professionally managed authentication service and portal. And of course, roaming across Europe will add tremendous value to the WiFi4EU project. We want to make sure that all European municipalities and not least EU citizens get off to the best possible start with WiFi4EU, that’s why we’re launching this now” says CEO of m3connect, Emilio Dragas.

 

The initiative will be supported by Wi-Fi NOW, the world’s leading Wi-Fi media and advisory organisation. “We’re delighted to be supporting m3connect in this project which will be a critical step towards making sure that WiFi4EU is a popular success. We are actively reaching out to Wi-Fi industry ecosystem partners in Europe to make sure that all parties are properly informed of the Phase 0 requirement and m3connect’s service,” says Claus Hetting, CEO of Wi-Fi NOW.

 

The service will cost 29 EUR per WiFi4EU network per month excluding any hardware. m3connect also offers complete Wi-Fi carefree packages especially made for municipalities across Europe including Wi-Fi, hardware and 3 year services.

 

On November 7th the European Commission will reopen its call for WiFi4EU grant applications, which means that thousands of local governments across the EU next week will apply to each receive €15,000 in grants towards building free Wi-Fi networks. The rollout of WiFi4EU networks will begin as soon as suppliers have been contracted for the individual networks. For more information about WiFi4EU visit wifi4eu.eu