If you live in Adelaide and are happy to connect to public Wi-Fi, we’ve got some good news thanks to TPG Telecom and $4.8 million of the South Australian government’s money.
It was announced on Wednesday that TPG Telecom has won a $4.8 million contract to refresh the City of Adelaide’s free Wi-Fi network. The telco said it will significantly improve the speed, security and reliability of public internet access across the city.
The new ‘ADL Free powered by TPG Telecom’ Wi-Fi network will see TPG Telecom replace the previous Internode built-and-operated network. Internode stood that up in 2014.
“The ADL Free powered by TPG Telecom Wi-Fi network will be the largest, free, city-wide Wi-Fi network in Australia and will deliver greater speed, capability and reliability for the people of Adelaide and its visitors,” TPG Telecom group executive of enterprise and government Jonathan Rutherford said.
As part of its contract, TPG Telecom will also replace the current mix of mesh-wireless, fibre and copper-based technology with a full fibre optic network. Think better speed and coverage. This new fibre optic network will be built upon the Ten Gigabit Adelaide fibre network that TPG actually built for the city.
Funding for the upgrade comes out of the $699 million ‘Adelaide City Deal’, a 10-year infrastructure agreement by federal, state and local governments.
TPG said more than 250 wireless access points will power the new Wi-Fi network that the telco plans to start deploying early next year.