Costa Rica’s Telecommunications Superintendence (Sutel)  announced this week they are moving forward with the Connected Public Spaces program. The program envisions creating 985 wireless access points in 360 districts of the country’s 82 counties or “cantones”.

They began the bidding process to find a contractor to implement systems for free Wi-Fi in parks, plazas, libraries, train stations and civic centers throughout the country, according to TeleSemana, Argentina’s regional telecommunications bulletin.

“The initial connection speed will be 100 megabytes, and will increase its capacity by 50 megabytes every year to 300 in the fifth year,” said Humberto Pineda, director of the National Telecommunications Fund (Fonatel).

Meanwhile, Sutel president, Gilbert Camacho Mora, referred to the initiative as “the most ambitious of Sutel’s” with a planned investment of 45 million dollars.

“We are sure this will be an opportunity for economic and social growth for more than four million people,” he said.

The open bid will receive tenders in November, and plans to award the most competitive bid a contract in December of this year. The contractor will then have a year to develop the infrastructure and get the project up and running.

Free Wi-Fi hotspots in public places aims to fulfill the ideal of ​​universal broadband service. Projects similar to this one are already in operation in Colombia, Chile, Bolivia and Honduras, among other countries.

Users should be aware, says Australia’s Stay Smart Online, that “free public wifi is an easy way for hackers to intercept your personal information. Wait until you’re on a private network before doing anything online where you share sensitive details.”