The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has announced a successful proof-of-concept trial of the OpenRoaming wifi technology in Dublin, Ireland.

Initially deployed at Bernardo Square, Dame Street and the City Council’s Amphitheatre, WBA OpenRoaming lets residents and visitors log in only once and then maintain seamless connectivity as their smartphones, tablets and other wifi devices automatically switch between different public wifi hotspots. The success of the trial will pave the way for a larger city-wide deployment.

“Wifi is the foundation for smart cities,” said Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the WBA. “This successful proof-of-concept trial shows that that the city of Dublin and its residents, businesses and visitors all can depend on the WBA OpenRoaming standard to ensure that they always have convenient access to seamless, secure, carrier-grade wifi connectivity.”

Dublin is a high growth city. It has a population in the greater Dublin area of around 2.02 million and is anticipated to grow to 2.2 million by 2031. It houses 30% of the country’s working population and attracts over 6.6 million overseas visitors a year. It is anticipated that OpenRoaming will be initially rolled out on more than 150 APs across the city.

Now available at more than a million hotspots worldwide, OpenRoaming frees users from the need to re-register or re-enter log-in credentials, all while maintaining enterprise-grade security and privacy. The standard also enables enterprises, device OEMs, service providers and others to provide performance guarantees and – with Wifi 6 and 6E – a carrier-grade experience as users roam between different public wifi venues.

“Dublin is at the forefront of a digital transformation that is serving as a model for other municipalities across Ireland and the world,” said Jamie Cudden, smart city lead for Dublin. “Collaborations like this are key to the delivery of convenient, reliable and ubiquitous connectivity which is critical for achieving our smart city goals such as closing the digital divide and ensuring that government is responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses. This successful trial of WBA OpenRoaming is a milestone towards achieving all those goals.”

The trial, initiated by Dublin City Council’s Smart Dublin programme and supported by the WBA and Virgin Media, also involved participation from CommScope and represents a key a milestone towards achieving Dublin’s smart city goals.

These include providing communities, residents and businesses with seamless access to services online, as well as high-quality connectivity.

Tourists and other visitors should have free, secure, high-performance wifi access. Once they arrive and log on to an OpenRoaming-enabled hotspot, their device is automatically authenticated for use every time it switches to another OpenRoaming-enabled hotspot. This makes it easier for them to find what they need, such as restaurant recommendations, transit schedules and directions.

This seamless, secure experience should ensure that citizens and visitors have the broadband connectivity they need for interactive immersive learning, research, hybrid study and more.

“As a founding partner in the OpenRoaming framework, we are pleased to announce with the WBA the successful launch of the OpenRoaming initiative and network for the city of Dublin,” said Bart Giordano, senior vice president at CommScope. “OpenRoaming brings the promise of seamless and secure connectivity to users and IoT devices all over the world.”

Aidan Darcy, vice president at Virgin Media Ireland, added: “It’s fantastic to be working with Dublin City Council on such an important initiative. Given the fact that we are the official provider of both the wifi and broadband infrastructure, we are able to offer cutting-edge broadband speeds and an exceptional wifi experience for residents and tourists availing of the new Dublin City wifi zones. We’re passionate about connecting communities and, with this new initiative, we really feel we’ll be creating connections for good.”

Launched in 2020, OpenRoaming is now in Release 3, which should make the business and commercial aspects of roaming easier and, importantly, cut back on hundreds of hours of legal and administrative time when establishing roaming settlement agreements.

Founded in 2003, the WBA’s vision is to drive seamless, interoperable service experiences via wifi within the global wireless ecosystem. WBA’s mission is to enable collaboration between service providers, technology companies, cities, regulators and organisations to achieve that vision. WBA’s membership is comprised of major operators, identity providers and technology companies across the wifi ecosystem.

WBA undertakes programmes and activities to address business and technical issues as well as opportunities for member companies. Work areas include standards development, industry guidelines, trials, certification and advocacy.