Italy's economy is in a dire situation, with one of the lowest average wages in Western Europe and an aging population, the government is looking for new ways to revitalize business, tourism and other sectors to create revenue.

One indirect change coming to Italy in the near future will be free public WiFi. The Italian government will be investing $6.3 million into the project, adding free WiFi to different areas in Italy over the next three years.

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The free public WiFi will be added to places like airports, shopping areas, train stations, and other public buildings. This follows other European, Asian and North American governments, who have already pushed large free WiFi movements in the past five years.

This would be a good broadband option, but it is not expected to be used as a residential broadband alternative. Speeds should be able to reach 30Mbps, faster than most Italian households receive on their cable/satellite plan.

Italy's broadband has also been noted as one of the most unstable, regularly going offline or dropping to abysmal speeds. During those times, citizens might be able to find better speeds at their local WiFi area.

The government has not talked about how this free WiFi program will bring in new jobs or create new economic drive. Giving citizens more access to the Internet will enlighten them about jobs and possibilities, but this is still an indirect long shot.

Some critics of the move claim Italy would be better off investing more into municipal broadband. This would give Italian citizens who want faster Internet speeds the ability to acquire them, without spending a fortune for the upgrade.

This seems unlikely to happen, however - Italy, like a lot of countries, only has a free Internet service provider choices. The government doesn't regulate these ISPs harshly enough, leading to slow-speeds en masse.

TagsItaly, WiFi, public WiFi, Italy economy