In the works since 2003, Da Nang’s free WIFI network has been officially launched after a successful year-long trial, reports DTI News.

Pham Kim Son, Director of the city’s municipal Department of Information and Communication said that the service will remain free through at least 2016 at which point users will pay a fee to use it.

The system is comprised of 330 base transceiver stations and Wi-Fi access points that have been installed on lighting poles and key locations including universities, tourist sites, apartments and 29 state departments and agencies.

There is no bandwidth cap on those visiting municipal and government sites though it’s unclear what the cap is for external sites.

Son added that the service, which has successfully recorded 20,000 connections per day, is meant for tourists, but above all, the old and workers who currently have little access to information technology.

And that’s not all:

“Alongside the purpose of serving locals and tourists, the municipal Wi-Fi system has also been used for environmental pollution supervision and alert, urban transport management, social order management and warning of natural disasters and dangers brought in by climate change,” wrote the paper.

At least we have free WIFI on our Saigon busses…

[DTI News // Photo via Vu Tuong Chieu]