City of Bologna launches RoamAD metro Wi-Fi network

Jun 13, 2006 3:06 PM

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RoamAD has announced that the Municipality of Bologna has launched a RoamAD-based municipal Wi-Fi network that is providing free Internet access to citizens of Bologna as well as to students and faculty of the University of Bologna. The Iperbole Wireless network was deployed by HI-TEL Italia , a RoamAD VAR/SI partner, in conjunction with a local ISP, Acantho, with the support of Laboratori G. Marconi, the City of Bologna, and the University of Bologna.

"The Iperbole wireless project is the first of its kind to cover the historic centre of a major Italian city," said Dr. Giuseppe Pariolo, deputy mayor and Bologna City manager for communication and ICT.

"Bologna is home to Europe's first university and is also the place where Marconi invented the radio. It is, therefore, fitting that Bologna should now be home to the most advanced high-speed wireless network in Europe," said Patrick Scarlata, president, HI-TEL Italia.

"The network represents a model for an efficient municipality like Bologna to evaluate a number of technologically advanced services and to offer its citizens and students mobility, video security and VoIP," said Professor Gabriele Falciasecca of the University of Bologna and the Guglielmo Marconi Foundation.

"Bologna has taken the lead in Italy by deploying a highly functional wireless network. Today, it supports fixed and mobile broadband Internet access as well as mobile VoIP yet it is also upgradable to WiMAX," said Martyn Levy, CEO, RoamAD. "The network is geared toward convergence and the future," added Levy.