Free Wi-Fi coming to Sydney
By Kayla Canne
Sydneysiders can soon expect free Wi-Fi stations across the city after a motion was unanimously passed by the City of Sydney Council last week.
Councillor Jenny Green, a member of Clover Moore’s team, introduced the motion requesting council partner with the NSW government to investigate and explore programs to install free Wi-Fi hubs across the CBD. She said they would provide beneficial communication and access between tourists and businesses in the area.
“Everyone will benefit because … when you think about what you access online, you can find out everything, whether it’s restaurants, shows, bars, music,” she said.
“We go online to look up all sorts of things, so if people can’t do that or if it’s expensive, they’re less likely to be accessing events that are happening. So I think it’s critical.”
Clr Green said Sydney is the only major city in Australia that does not yet have free Wi-Fi and that it is very important for the city to “catch up.”
“It’s happened everywhere else, so it’s certainly doable in Sydney,” she said.
‘Smartpoles’ with Wi-Fi capabilities have already been set up around Sydney through past city initiatives. Parts of the Wi-Fi program run through state-owned land so the city needed to involve the state government in proceedings before moving forward, Clr Green said.
The cost of the program has not yet been determined, but if the city were to utilise the smartpoles already in place it would eliminate millions of dollars in infrastructure costs.
Clr Green said she hoped her motion would kickstart the discussions needed with the NSW government to establish relationships with telephone companies and get the program moving.
More accurate details regarding a timeline for free Wi-Fi across the CBD will come after more discussion between council and the state government, but Clr Green said she hoped to see the program completely released before September of this year, when the construction of a new light rail will shut down parts of George Street and potentially disrupt access to local businesses and any unfinished Wi-Fi installations.
“Parts of the city will be closed off and so that then becomes difficult for retailers. You’ve got George Street starting to close down and be barricaded off due to construction, and so people are less likely to come into the city or stay longer and spend money,” she said.
“If you’ve got free Wi-Fi, that’s an incentive to keep people there and hopefully there will be quite a few events going on … but people won’t certainly know about it unless you’ve got Wi-Fi, particularly for tourists.”
