Another attempt at the European financing tool Wifi4EU. After the computer glitch last May, the European Commission is preparing to launch a new call for expressions of interest on Wednesday 7 November to provide financial support for the installation of free wireless access points. Amount available: 42 million euros, or one third of the budget available until 2020 (see EUROPE 12128).
Erasing a first failure
The Wifi4EU initiative aims to financially support the installation of free wireless access points in public spaces such as libraries, parks or public squares. According to an agreement reached in May 2017, 120 million euros are available for this purpose over the 2018-2020 period. A first call for expressions of interest was launched in May 2018 but was then cancelled due to a computer glitch allowing local authorities to apply according to the time registered on their computer, which gave some parties a greater advantage. This time the Commission claims to have employed all possible precautions to avoid such a situation. "It's a definite YES", said its spokesperson.
Terms and conditions
The Commission therefore considers itself ready to relaunch the procedure. This time, 2,800 coupons worth 15,000 euros will be made available (compared to 1,000 last May). Interested municipalities or groups of municipalities must register on the Wifi4EU portal before the official launch of the call for expressions of interest on 7 November at 1 p.m. (CET). They will be able to officially respond from that moment on to the call for expressions of interest, which will be open until 9 November at 5 p.m. (CET). The selected municipalities will be those who applied first on a “first come, first served" basis with a minimum of 15 coupons per country (and a maximum of 224).
The conditions to be met are simple: local authorities must submit an application signed by the representative of the municipal authority (and the representative’s proof of identity). They must commit to providing a free connection, without advertising and without data collection for at least 3 years, in areas where no access points are yet in place. They are also free to choose the Internet service provider of their preference.
As for the next steps, the selection will take place in December 2018 and the access points will be established in 2019. The Commission states that it will issue three further calls for expressions of interest over the next two years, approximately once every six months.
The European Commission notes that nearly 20,000 local authorities have already registered their details on the portal, almost one fifth of those in the EU. The budget available until 2020 should allow a total of between 6 and 8,000 municipalities to be reached.
Link: https://wifi4eu.eu/ #/home(Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean with Camille-Cerise Gessant)