Barcelona Wi-Fi Deploys Aptilo SMP on 1,000+ Buses

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

Barcelona Wi-Fi is enabled by Aptilo Networks and the Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP), a state-of-the art system 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.

Users register for Barcelona Wi-Fi on their first visit through a captive portal in Aptilo SMP adapted to the screen size of the user’s device. Users are verified in a one-time procedure through a link emailed to their account. They are automatically connected to the 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 Rodríguez Jiménez, IT Director, Barcelona City Council.

Public/Private Partnership and Monetization Model
Due to government regulations, Barcelona Wi-Fi may not exceed speeds above 256 Kb/s at outdoor locations. Excepted are Barcelona City Council websites and indoor locations such as libraries and museums, which can be accessed with unlimited data speeds. 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, Aptilo Networks.