The roll-out of free gig-speed Wi-Fi hot spots across Dunedin is moving ahead faster than originally scheduled and two are expected to be live by the end of this month.
The original aim was to have five of the hot spots installed by the end of this year, but the Dunedin City Council now hopes to have eight online, and the rest in place by June next year.
Enterprise Dunedin economic development programme manager Fraser Liggett said the hot spot at the Dunedin Public Library went live last month and a second, at Wall Street mall, was expected to be up and running by the end of this month.
It was anticipated that by the end of the year hot spots would also be installed at
Port Chalmers Library, Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and the Chinese Garden and Mosgiel Library.
It was also hoped sites at Dunedin Botanic Garden, Marlow Park and Museum Reserve would be live by the end of the year, but the timeline could be extended as installation was expected to be "slightly more complex''.
The progress comes after the council signed a three-year, $430,000 contract with Spark to provide gig-speed Wi-Fi hot spots in addition to the Octagon Wi-Fi launched late last year.
It was still developing plans for a "GigCity Living Hub'' inside the library to go alongside the hot spot and more information on progress on the hub was likely in the next two months.
