A 5G ENABLED public Wi-Fi network for Dundee Waterfront and surrounding areas could come a step closer next week.
Members of Dundee City Council’s city development committee will be asked to approve the £1.1m scheme, as well as £10,000 per annum for the next seven years to operate it.
Alan Ross convener of the committee said: “As a council we have an ambition for Dundee to become a Smart City with the highest possible level of digital connectivity that will improve quality of life and economic development.
“This 5G testbed and public Wi-Fi coverage, as well as the connection to one of our major academic institutions, will help us to deliver on that ambition.
“It will also help us to develop a robust business case to unlock the £2 million assigned in the Tay Cities Deal for using this type of technology. Taken together this activity will put the city in a leading position in this area.”
Recommended contractors AWTG Limited will deliver the infrastructure needed for provision of free public Wi-Fi and the 5G testbed, including the supply and installation of fibre in the Central Waterfront and a fibre connection to Abertay University. They will also extend public Wi-Fi coverage to the city centre at no additional cost to the council.
The fibre backed network will provide significantly faster data download and upload speeds, with connections that are up to twenty times faster than currently available. The networks will also provide the infrastructure needed to carry large amounts of data.
It is expected that the main works within the Central Waterfront Area will be completed by the end of the year.
The city development committee meets on Monday (January 27).
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
