Full Installation of 'Public Wi-Fi' in Five Autonomous Districts Including Seongdong-gu, Seoul

Additional 15 Autonomous Districts Selected in Second Half of Year... Expansion to 25 Districts by 2021

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] On the 10th, Seoul announced that it has finally selected five autonomous districts?Seongdong-gu, Dobong-gu, Eunpyeong-gu, Gangseo-gu, and Guro-gu?as the first project targets for the 'Smart Seoul Network (S-Net)' construction project, which aims to provide public Wi-Fi throughout public living zones.

Public living zones include areas around subway stations, parks, plazas, traditional markets, tourist facilities, main streets, bus stops, and rivers.

The city plans to invest a total of 14 billion KRW in city funds, allocating 3.9 billion KRW to Seongdong-gu, 3.3 billion KRW to Eunpyeong-gu, 3.6 billion KRW to Gangseo-gu, 1.7 billion KRW to Guro-gu, and 1.6 billion KRW to Dobong-gu, to build 332 km of optical fiber networks and additionally install 1,680 public Wi-Fi access points (APs) using this infrastructure.

Based on the detailed designs conducted by each district from March to May this year, the city explained that these districts were selected through the Smart Seoul Network Advisory Committee, composed of private experts, considering the necessity and urgency of public Wi-Fi installation, resolution of north-south imbalance, the financial conditions and willingness of the districts, and the expected effects on bridging the digital divide.

To ensure smooth project implementation, the city will sign business agreements with the districts to clearly define roles for public Wi-Fi maintenance and management. Additionally, a public Wi-Fi integrated management center will be established to unify the currently fragmented management systems, and efforts will be made to enhance Wi-Fi user convenience, guarantee quality, and strengthen security.

In particular, for this first phase, the city plans to introduce equipment verified through the Wi-Fi 6 device performance evaluation (BMT: Benchmark Test) conducted at the Seoul World Cup Stadium from the 18th to the 21st of last month, aiming to provide high-quality public Wi-Fi services.

Earlier, to establish smart city infrastructure as the foundation for a non-face-to-face and digital society in the post-COVID-19 era at an early stage, the city allocated 49.1 billion KRW in the third supplementary budget and plans to select 15 additional districts for the second phase in the second half of this year, completing the installation of public Wi-Fi throughout Seoul’s public living zones by next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.