MaltaMedia.com

A Free Wi-Fi Internet project was launched on Tuesday at Old Railway Station Garden in Birkirkara. The project involves the setting up of free Wi-Fi Internet points at locations frequented by the community and is intended to promote the usage of Internet by means of portable devices such as laptops, netbooks and mobile phones away from home or the office desk.

The first Wi-Fi point will enable visitors of this Garden to connect to the Internet at any time of the day. All the Internet points will be filtered against inappropriate and unlawful content so as to offer a safer internet environment particularly for minors.

Launching the project, Minister Austin Gatt stated that having access to Information Communications Technology (ICT) is as important as having access to basic utilities such as water and electricity. ICT today is no longer an amusement machine but rather an indispensible tool for communication, work and learning purposes.

The first places to have a free Wi-Fi Internet point will also include Independence Garden in Sliema and St Aloysius College Sports Complex in Birkirkara. In the near future a number of Wi-Fi points will also be installed in a number of public libraries and schools.

The Chairman of the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), Ing. Philip Micallef, who was also present for the inauguration, thanked the partners involved in this project – amongst them CISCO, donor of all the wireless access points, and sponsors such as Arkadia Marketing Limited and St Martin’s Institute of Information Technology that are financially supporting some of the first Wi-Fi points.

Ing. Micallef also invited other organisations to come forward and involve themselves in the project. Interested NGOs and public entities such as local councils are encouraged to contact the MCA for more information on this project.

During this event the Birkirkara Local Council was also presented with 10 computers that will strengthen the Community Technology and Learning Centre that currently serves the training and access needs of the Birkirkara community.

Mr Michael Fenech Adami, Mayor of Birkirkara, thanked the Ministry and the MCA for choosing Birkirkara to launch this project. He added that ICT should not be limited to youths, but should be accessible and used by everyone since indeed it does offer an opportunity for a better quality of life.

More information may be obtained by calling Malta Communications Authority (MCA) on 2125 5495.