[ad_1]
Article content
Free Toronto-provided Wi-Fi may soon be as close as your lap.
The company that brought cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity to Toronto’s subway is now looking at extending that service elsewhere, including as part of the city’s 25,000 pieces of street furniture.
In a recently approved in-house city hall lobbyist registration, BAI Communications Inc. Canada CEO Don Morrison was granted permission to discuss the initiative with several top city bureaucrats.
BAI is seeking to partner with the city to become a ‘neutral host’ installer of “open-access wireless telecommunications equipment” in city-owned property and street furniture — consisting of bus shelters, benches, newspaper box corrals, information boards and trash cans.
As part of the city’s Digital Main Street program, business improvement areas (BIAs) have previously installed streetside Wi-Fi mesh networks to not only provide service to customers, but also track the movements and habits of shoppers through their mobile devices and provide that information to retailers.
One such system was installed by the Bloor West Village BIA in 2016, with another planned for the Queen West BIA a few years later.
Expanding the availability of public and non-profit broadband Internet was one of the recommendations of the 2017 Toronto Broadband Study.
BAI Communications was part of the city’s initiative in April 2020 to provide free Internet access to low-income neighborhoods, seniors and vulnerable residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[ad_2]
Source link
