The city of São Paulo, Brazil is currently in the process of tendering a system of Wi-Fi hotspots coordinated in strategic locations. The good news for city officials is that the final contract for the installation of the public Wi-Fi service is 40% lower than it was originally expected to cost.
The initiative is part of a project called Praças Digitais (“Digital Squares” in Portuguese), which aims at connecting the entirety of the city’s 11 million residents, as well as visitors, via this publically available Wi-Fi network. São Paulo expects an inundation of tourism in the coming years owing in part to various sporting events which will be taking place in Brazil in the near future.
Although the budget for São Paulo network project was previously set at around $6.4 million (locally, R$ 15million) the final contract drawn up for the Wi-Fi initiative will cost the city only $3.5 million thanks to areas where the infrastructure necessary for connectivity was already in place. The project aims to feature Wi-Fi connection speeds of at least 512Kbps per user for downloads or uploads, as well as creating a stable network for all users. A management system will also be put in place to detect problems and legal issues which might be caused by public connections
A network roll-out will feature 120 Wi-Fi spots around São Paulo which are scheduled to begin working as soon as the construction project is completed in September 2014.
