Wi-Fi on the beach

PROVIDING free Wi-Fi on Benidorm’s Levante Beach is a win-win situation.

Beachgoers will not be forced to choose between running up big mobile bills or suffering withdrawal symptoms. And between August 15 and mid-October, the Costa Blanca Tourist Board will receive a rundown of users’ preferences, holiday habits, country of origin and length of stay.

The mutually beneficial project will put Benidorm at the head of Big Data technology in Alicante Province, the tourist board explained. Big data is the huge amount of computer information that inundates businesses and institutions on a daily basis. 

It is not the amount of data that is important but how organisations use it and Benidorm was chosen on the strength of its size and influence on the tourist sector.

There will be 11 free Wi-Fi hot spots along Levante beach bringing coverage to 3,300 users. After the two-month Wi-Fi experiment concludes in October, the tourist board will decide whether or not to continue the service which cost €15,000 to install.

In the meantime, there will be free Wi-Fi in the Castillo, El Torrejo and Avenida de Bilbao over the next 12 months as Benidorm takes another step in its bid to become a ‘smart city, the town hall announced.