- The project, for €14 M, will be started up at the town halls of the province
- The initiative will facilitate, among other things, interconnection among municipalities and the council, more economical broadband services and wifi access outdoors
The Provincial Council of Valencia (Spain) awarded Indra, the premier IT company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe, in temporary consortium with Cesser, Valencia's leading group in wireless network exploitation, an innovative project for the supply, configuration and exploitation of Europe’s largest wireless network. With the slogan “Sona la Dipu, Valencia provincia wifi”, the council seeks to provide citizens with better access to information society and electronic administration.
For complexity reasons, the implementation will be divided in four phases. In a 3-year maximum execution period, all municipalities of the province will benefit from this initiative.
The first 30 municipalities will have full connection before 2011. The second phase will cover 120 municipalities which will gain access in July 2011. In the third phase services will be available for 200 municipalities before 2012 and the rest, that is, 265 municipalities during 2013.
Objectives of the project
The project, which has already started, includes the development of a network based on wireless technology, property of the province. It will guarantee technology evenness across the province and is a step forward in the elimination of the so called Digital Divide in the area.
It also seeks to encourage regional telecommunication services at highly competitive prices, thus improving self-provisioning services for all municipalities and promoting efficient investments in technologies. This way, technology innovation will be boosted as well as competitiveness among companies. In addition to this, citizens will be able to make the most of the Information Society services. Wireless technology implies broadband services at the most economical prices of the market.
Thanks to this initiative, town councils will have free access to internet and to the intranet which will connect all municipalities with the Council’s Data Processing Centre. Through the intranet corporate applications can be accessed and data can be shared between municipalities.
The network also offers the advantage of interconnection among the local government buildings, including telecentres distributed across the province. The municipalities will have wifi access outdoors by installing devices at street level, for either citizens or staff.
With the start up of this project, the provincial Council of Valencia takes a step forward in programmes aimed at offering first-rate services, not only to town councils but also to citizens.
Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the first European company in its sector according to investment in R&D and is the second Spanish company in absolute value investments in R&D. In 2009 revenues reached € 2,513 M of which a 40% came from the international market. The company employs more than 29,000 professionals and has clients in more than 100 countries.
Cesser is an information technology group from Valencia, a national benchmark in the exploitation of wireless networks and owner of Iberfone trademark. The company, with a € 45 M turnover in 2009, employs 400 professionals and has implemented over 2,000 IT projects.