Paris wants blanket wireless Internet coverage by the end of 2007 reports News.com. Under a new plan, the city hopes to set up 400 free Wi-Fi access points next year and allow Internet service providers to install antennae on strategically located public property.
The plan also calls for slashing taxes on companies that lay down fiber optic cables in a drive to have 80 percent of all buildings within the city connected to so-called 'ultra-high speed' fiber optic networks by 2010.
License fees for fiber optic cables already snaking through the city's sewer system would be cut by 25 percent, and the tax break would go up to 90 percent for the first 400 meters of new cables that branch out to connect buildings currently lacking the high-speed lines.
The free wireless access points--to be located in parks, squares, libraries, and public areas--will be set up by private firms that win contracts to be awarded in early 2007.
The project will also experiment with free Wi-Fi access for an entire city quarter by the end of 2007.
