Deploying a free high-speed urban wireless network totally covering a large city as a means to close the digital divide is an issue that many cities are presently examining. But such an ambitious target raises many questions regarding the choice of the right technology, legal constraints regarding the European free market and the costs and benefits. The Brussels Region has recently undertaken experiments with the concept by deploying the largest free access Wi-Fi area in Belgium covering a whole university campus. The next step is to extend that network gradually to cover the whole Brussels region.

Policy Context

The BRIC (Brussels Regional Informatic Center) is a highly professional multi-technological E-government oriented governmental agency : it is an IT center as well as an IT-solutions provider, developer and integrator for regional institutions, pararegional, local authorities, schools and welfare centres. It also coordinates the IRISnet broadband network connecting a large majority of public institutions installed on the Brussels Region territory. It is financed by the regional budget and works under the supervision of the Brussels Minister in charge of Finance, Budget and Informatics. As leader of the Urbizone project, the BRIC is conducting the operational management of the experimental network, as well as the prospective study regarding the deployment of the network on a regional basis. This study specifically covers the compliance of such a public network with legal constraints in the framework of competition laws in the European free market.

Description of target users and groups

Some 10,300 students and 3,300 teachers living or working on the campus "La Plaine" are able to establish a connection with the wireless network. Visitors and neighbouring Brussels citizens and businesses can also take advantage of the wireless network. The requirements are a PC equipped with a wireless network adapter and a sign-on identifying procedure to comply with Belgian regulations. Two universities share the above same campus : ULB and VUB. The network will be extended to 12 high schools of the Brussels Region as well as to the harbour zone during the years 2007 and 2008.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

Imtech performed an extensive site survey before introducing its offer, resulting in a very sound evaluation regarding the number of access points. This was an important asset that contributed to select its offer. The deployment was performed by two teams of 4 persons each in order to keep the project into the planning requested by the Brussels Region. About 70 access points were installed. Extensive systematic on-the-field measurements demonstrated that the signal quality and the throughput matched the specifications. The two universities are also using the Wi-Fi network as a technological platform to design and test some new applications. Multi-channel issues: Not applicable

Main results, benefits and impacts

Six months after its launching, the URBIZONE experiment at the “Plaine” university campus is monthly being used by over 1000 students. The mean connection time has raised to 85 minutes and the mean number of sessions a day is about 300. The experience will be extended, covering other university and high schools campus. Innovation: The solution is based on a mesh network where all Access Points are linked together through wireless links. Each access point can relay messages on behalf of another one. It is a self configuring system where the emitted data takes the shortest way to find the gateway to the Internet. A technique enabling a single channel RF planning instead of usual implementations using 3 non overlapping channels resulted in a consistent network less sensible to interferences. This was crucial as more than 45 other wireless LANs were discovered on the campus during deployment. Thanks to the access point density it was also possible to implement Voice over Meshed WLAN in an outdoor environment allowing roaming across the campus. The uninterrupted power supply of Access points installed on poles is obtained by loading batteries at night when the poles are on.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

International conferences showed a large interest. It has been mentioned : - during Wireless and digital cities : http://www.wirelesscitiescongress.eu/page.cfm/link=91 - by Eurolabs : http://www.ist-eurolabs.org/uploads/File/labsnews0507.pdf - by IEEE DEST 2007 : http://www.ieee-dest.curtin.edu.au/2007/Scabo.pdf - during Belnet Networking Conference : http://bnc.belnet.be/branches/nl/index.php?module=filecabinet&id=11 Newspapers too: - http://www.dhnet.be/infos/societe/article/151613/surf-email-et-telephon… - http://archives.lesoir.be/t-20060824-006336.html?query=R%E9seaux+sans+f… Other Municipalities and Universities or governmental organisations took contact to have similar projects implemented. Some concurrent companies reoriented their Road map to prioritize outdoor wireless mesh. Their name however may not be mentioned here due to non disclosure agreements.

Lessons learnt

The connection speed plays a larger role in its adoption by the users than its price : the number of connections indeed noticeably increased when the bandwidth was doubled. At present the URBIZONE network supports 1Mbps but ADSL providers commonly offer 4Mbps. Some factors had a large influence on the total cost and deployment duration of the project: building security access rules, work safety rules obliging to place protection barriers when working on some building roofs, obtaining building permits, signal attenuation due to vegetation. On the other hand vandalism was overestimated. This is probably due to the large adoption of the network by the students that urges them to keep the network running. Scope: Local (city or municipality), Regional (sub-national)