We get you connected - WiFi4EU

It is hard to imagine our lives without the Internet these days. Yet, there are still many regions in the EU that have no quality access or have any access at all. We have made it easier for you to be online by providing you with a free Wi-Fi connectivity in public spaces like parks, squares, libraries, health centres and museums in municipalities throughout Europe. Thanks to the EU programme WiFi4EU, thousands of communities across Europe can help people build skills and businesses to benefit from the digital revolution.

How does it work?

The WiFi4EU Programme brings high-quality wireless internet access to at least 6000-8000 local communities by covering the costs of the installation of Wi-Fi equipment in public spaces such as town halls, public libraries, museums, public parks or squares.

• Municipalities need to apply for vouchers with a value of €15,000 to cover the costs of installing Wi-Fi equipment unless there is already a free Wi-Fi hotspot on the ground.
• Every participating country is guaranteed a minimum of 15 vouchers and can potentially win a maximum of 510 vouchers. The beneficiaries are selected on a first-come, first-served basis, while ensuring geographical balance.
• The current call is worth €51 million and will allow 3,400 vouchers to be allocated.
• Two more calls will be organised in the coming two years

The EPP Group supported the WiFi4EU project from the beginning and made every effort to make it reality. We managed to secure the total provisional budget of up to €120m until 2020.

The success of the programme was evident after more than 10,000 municipalities across Europe applied for the 3,400 €15,000 vouchers in the second round (April 2019). The first WiFi4EU call, which took place in November 2018, was equally successful and granted 2,800 vouchers.

Attention to rural areas

The EPP Group was actively involved in designing the programme. Focus on rural areas was one of our priorities. We made sure that we reduced the requirements for participating in the programme so that regions with less quality broadband could also apply. We believe that Europe should not be digitally divided, and we made sure that rural areas are not left behind.

What next?

WiFi4EU is clearly an EPP Group achievement. We have proved that Europe can be practical and useful in the everyday lives of Europeans.

We now want to ensure that by 2020, all Europeans have access to internet speeds of above 30 Mbps and 50% or more European households subscribe to internet connections above 100 Mbps.

We want to move towards a gradual reduction of the digital divide in Europe, fostering digital inclusion for all and access to new online services such as e-government or e-health.