FON:PR - FON in Genf

Participating residents will agree to share a portion of their broadband connection by connecting a La Fonera to their existing broadband connection. In return, they will benefit from free and unlimited access to more than 250,000 FON hotspots in Geneva and around the world. Once the 500 FON WiFi routers have been installed, Geneva’s residents and visitors will enjoy WiFi coverage throughout the city.

This project is part of FON’s strategy to provide WiFi coverage in major cities worldwide, such as Tokyo, San Francisco and Munich. In Madrid, FON has already successfully launched a similar project in the hip Chueca neighbourhood. Foneros can already connect freely on any street throughout Chueca’s area, and FON is about to replicate the project in other areas of the city. Meanwhile, in France and in the UK, FON has already considerably increased its number of hotspots thanks to partnerships with Neuf Cegetel and BT that invite their subscribers to join FON Community.

For the City of Geneva, the announcement marks the second phase of an ambitious project called “Genève sans fil” (Geneva Wireless) that was announced earlier this year aimed at facilitating and democratising Internet access. Since June 2007, dozens of free public hotspots have been installed and Geneva has become one of the most dynamic cities of Europe in terms of offering public WiFi access.

Viva Free WiFi - FON is building the world’s largest WiFi community. FON’s mission is to stimulate the growth of WiFi internet access around the world by creating a global community of “Foneros” (consumers who agree to share their WiFi in return for free access elsewhere) and offering non-community members low-cost access. FON’s La Fonera routers have been designed to enable Foneros to share their home WiFi access in a completely safe and secure manner. La Fonera routers split the WiFi signal, creating a secure private channel to broadband internet and a separate channel to share with fellow Foneros. Founded in February 2006 in Madrid, Spain, FON investors include Google, Skype, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

For more information, visit FON at http://www.fon.com.

Media Contact for FON:
Tania Cavada
Phone: +34 600 417 735
E-Mail: tania.cavada@fon.com
www.fon.com

Media Contact for the City of Geneva:
Département de l’environnement urbain et de la sécurité
Eric Favre
Directeur de la Direction des systèmes d’information et de communication (DSIC)
T +41 (0)22 418 56 00
eric.favre@ville-ge.ch

Département de la culture
Pierre Hazan
Chargé de mission auprès du Maire
T +41 (0)22 418 65 00
pierre.hazan@ville-ge.ch