Installation at Over 1,500 Major Tourist Attractions and Parks by Next Year
In the cotton greenhouse equipped with public Wi-Fi, wireless internet can be used for free. Photo by Mokpo City provided
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Seunghyun] Mokpo City, Jeonnam Province, announced on the 17th that it will open the era of smart tourism with public Wi-Fi that allows free wireless internet access anywhere.
The city plans to install gigabit-level public Wi-Fi, which provides free data usage, at about 1,500 locations throughout the city by next year to establish itself as one of Korea's four major tourism hub cities and to respond to the smart tourism era.
Selected for the "Wireless Internet Infrastructure Expansion Project" led by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the city plans to install 500 units centered on the old downtown area this year and another 500 units centered on the new downtown area in 2022.
This year, starting in July, installations will be made at major tourist attractions and parks with heavy foot traffic from citizens and tourists, including Jungang-ro, major plazas, main arterial roads with bus traffic, the street of modern cultural history, car-free streets, Rose Street, and the Hwareohoe Plaza, with services beginning in January next year.
The city will attach signs at public institution entrances, parks, CCTV poles, and bus stop route signs to guide users on the availability of public Wi-Fi.
A city official stated, "Public Wi-Fi will greatly help tourists by allowing them to use data for free to access Mokpo tourism information, making travel more convenient," and added, "We will steadily promote the public Wi-Fi installation project to enable smart living and tourism."
Meanwhile, since 2012 until last year, the city installed public Wi-Fi at a total of 435 locations including community service centers, welfare facilities, traditional markets, major tourist sites, inside city buses, and bus stop BITs.
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