Member Article

Free Ultrafast Seaside Arrives in Sunderland

As Sunderland City Council continues its ambitious plans to rollout 5G ready WiFi connectivity across the city, the latest free superfast WiFi is available now on the coastal stretch between Roker and Seaburn.

Residents and visitors can access free ultrafast WiFi from Roker Beach to Seaburn Stack, benefiting from some of the best WiFi speeds in the country to enable quick, easy access to the internet on the go.

Following the initial deployment of ultrafast WiFi in Keel Square, High Street West and St Mary’s Boulevard in December 2019, this latest extension of high-speed connectivity is part of a wider strategy comprising numerous collaborative projects led by Sunderland City Council to augment its digital infrastructure for the benefit of everyone across the city and further boost Sunderland’s reputation as a digital leader.

The greatly anticipated Stack Seaburn, a £2.5million vibrant leisure space on the Sunderland coast, is set to open on Friday 28th August. The availability of the newly installed WiFi in this area presents many opportunities for safer crowd control and event management utilising digital technologies.

As one of the first cities in the UK to deploy 5G ready WiFi, digital transformation is firmly on chief executive Patrick Melia’s agenda: “Our smart city vision aims to digitally equip individuals and businesses across Sunderland with the means to grow and compete on a global scale.

“Positioning Sunderland as a forward-thinking place to work, live and invest is critical to support employment, education and economic prosperity for businesses and residents alike.”

Patrick adds: “Ultrafast connectivity on the seafront here between Roker and Seaburn brings many opportunities to position Sunderland as a tourism destination as well as bringing in the latest technologies to enhance outdoor events.

“Vendors and partners at events such as Sunderland Airshow, which is held at the Roker and Seaburn seafronts, will benefit from a faster and more interactive mechanism to keep people informed in the build up to and during events. The new high-speed infrastructure offers advantages for heightened public safety and the ability to inform and cascade information instantly to attendees via push notifications to smart phones.”

Sunderland’s growing superfast 5G ready WiFi zones serve as the catalyst to power the next generation of wireless network infrastructure across the city, enabling more devices to access the mobile internet at the same time with significantly faster download and upload speeds, plus low latency optimised to process a high volume of data with minimal delay.

As our smart city of Sunderland continues its journey to becoming one of the smartest cities in the country – with focused projects embedding healthcare improvements with innovative Assistive Technology, as well as strengthening teaching and learning with enhanced connectivity in local schools and now a superfast seafront – the benefits to locals are far reaching; connecting people whilst boosting digital skills and business competitiveness.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tori Lynn .