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Melbourne is about to receive a Wi-Fi upgrade as the city’s network infrastructure nears the end of its lifespan after almost a decade.

The government said it wants to improve speed and capacity and make the city’s Wi-Fi more functional in line with new mobile device and computing standards.

The free Wi-Fi, called VicFreeWifi, was launched in 2016 and was first tested by iiNet.

iTNews reported the Wi-Fi services approximately 50,000 unique users per month in the local government area of ​​the city of Melbourne.

In 2022, the government announced the extension of free WiFi for another two years. That same year, the government claimed the service had been used more than 45 million times and there were more than 430 terabytes of downloaded data.

Now in 2024, the government is upgrading Melbourne’s Wi-Fi as it stated that “the role of free public Wi-Fi has changed significantly in recent years.”

The upgrade will be led by Victoria’s Department of Government Services (DGS), which was established on January 1 with a mission to connect and digitalise Victoria’s systems and platforms.

According to reports, the improved Wi-Fi will be used for transport monitoring, internet of things, CCTV, digital signage, Eduroam and a public address system.

The VicFreeWifi zone includes Bourke Street Mall, Swanton Street, Exhibition Street and Queen Victoria Market.

Additional areas include Flinders Street Station, Southern Cross Station and public buildings such as the Town Hall, National Art Gallery Precinct and outside State Library.

The Government will also allocate funding to ‘growth areas’ such as Docklands, Fishermans Bend Precinct and Arden Precinct, in addition to Botanic Gardens.

In 2014, iiNet was selected by the Victorian Government to build Australia’s “largest free public wireless network in Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo”. The state government and Melbourne City handled the project and originally called it “VicGovFree.”

iiNet won a $6.7 million network deal, deploying 1,000 wireless access points and free Wi-Fi coverage in the central business districts of the three cities. In 2015, TPG Telecom took over the project when it bought iiNet for $1.56 billion.

This first appeared in the CommsWire subscription newsletter on April 26, 2024.

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