Luxembourg’s presidency of the Council of the European Union – during the second half of 2015 – is an opportunity for the country and its capital city to gain extensive exposure. For the government, this is a time to strengthen the country’s image and to position it as a “smart nation”. How? By making Luxembourg City one of the first “Wi-Fi capitals” in Europe to offer free internet access to all users.
From 15 June 2015, the government of Luxembourg, in partnership with the municipalities of Luxembourg and Esch-sur-Alzette, will thus be offering free access to the HOTCITY public networks across the two municipalities. This offer will run throughout the 6 month duration of the presidency and beyond it – until 31 January 2016. To enhance the experience, the network of Wi-Fi antennae has been expanded over the past few weeks (44 additional access points in Kirchberg and 21 in Belval) to offer optimal coverage in these strategic and busy districts.
The free Wi-Fi initiative fits in with the Digital Lëtzebuerg initiative implemented by the government to project an image of Luxembourg as a highly connected country, and echoes the programme of the Luxembourg presidency, in which digital issues will play an important part.
How to connect to the network?
To enjoy free Wi-Fi in town, using your portable computer, smartphone or tablet, simply select the CITYLUXFREE network in Luxembourg or the CITYESCHFREE network in Esch-sur-Alzette and Belval, open a web page and connect via the multilingual portal that is displayed on screen.
The government predicts that the use of the HOTCITY Wi-Fi network will double to reach around 6,000 daily connections during Luxembourg’s presidency.
