The Azores Embraces OpenRoaming: Quick & Easy Access to Secure, High-Performance Wi-Fi for Citizens & Tourists
World’s Largest OpenRoaming Combined Network, Spanning All Nine Islands of The Azores and Freeing Users from the Need to Log In
The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced that the Azores Islands Government and Tetrapi SA, local services company, are implementing OpenRoaming™ Wi-Fi hotspots throughout its nine-island autonomous region, representing the largest outdoor deployment of OpenRoaming to date.
Users can benefit from more than 250 planned OpenRoaming Wi-Fi hotspots. Tourists, citizens, first responders, and other users will stay securely connected across hundreds of indoor and outdoor venues such as hotels, airports, schools, public gardens, beaches, pools, libraries, sports pavilions, museums, government buildings, plazas, marinas, and tourist offices.
To begin using OpenRoaming, Azores citizens, tourists, and other users accept the terms and conditions, and they are online. They select OpenRoaming in the network options or use a straightforward one-time provisioning portal to be automatically connected. Whenever their device is within range of an OpenRoaming hotspot, it will automatically and securely connect — no login required. All end-user devices that support Passpoint are supported, including Samsung, Apple, and Google phones.
The nine islands of The Azores, with a population of 250,000, occupy a strategic position in the mid-Atlantic. As an archipelago of beautiful islands, they have a significant tourism industry, tea paddies, and vineyards. Over one million visitors a year visit island hop throughout their stay.
The first implementation phase includes the Azores government’s broad network that spans the nine islands, public networks, and some public facilities. The city center’s largest education institution and enterprise offices are also part of the enablement. Phase two is being scoped and is planned to cover ferry terminals that receive large cruise ships, the local ferries doing hops between islands, large local hotel chains, and airports, realizing the final vision of holistic coverage.
WBA OpenRoaming, currently available at over 3 million hotspots worldwide, frees users from the need to constantly re-register or re-enter login credentials — all while maintaining enterprise-grade security and privacy. The WBA OpenRoaming standard also enables enterprises, device OEMs, service providers, and others to provide performance guarantees and — with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E — a carrier-grade experience as users roam between different public/private Wi-Fi realms.