Barcelona City Council has expanded Barcelona Wi-Fi, one of the largest city Wi-Fi deployments in Europe, to its entire fleet of 1,003 buses.

Aptilo Networks and the Aptilo Service Management Platform (SMP) are powering Barcelona Wi-Fi to deliver and manage carrier-class Wi-Fi services.

Barcelona Wi-Fi covers most of Barcelona City with free Wi-Fi from more than 1,100 access points at outdoor and indoor locations.
Wi-Fi users can register for Barcelona Wi-Fi on their first visit through a portal in Aptilo SMP adapted to the screen size of the user’s device. Users need to verify in a one-time procedure through a link emailed to their account. They can connect automatically to Wi-Fi network upon subsequent visits, as Aptilo SMP remembers user identifying information from the first verification.

“We are constantly seeking innovative ways to utilize Barcelona Wi-Fi for Smart City services. Aptilo has been a great partner in helping us take Barcelona Wi-Fi to new heights,” said Paco Rodriguez Jimenez, IT director at Barcelona City Council.

Barcelona Wi-Fi broadband may not exceed speeds above 256 Kbps at outdoor locations due to government regulations. Aptilo SMP handles policies to control bandwidth, opening hours and allowed connection times depending on the hotspot location.

Barcelona Wi-Fi is also available as a commercial premium service with unlimited speeds through a local service provider that is also using Aptilo SMP.

“Barcelona City Council, one of the pioneers of City Wi-Fi, is constantly on the move with Smart City initiatives to save costs and to support their 1.6 million citizens and 7.5 million tourists visiting the city every year,” said Paul Mikkelsen, CEO of Aptilo Networks.