Provision of Citizen Wi-Fi

The authority (AWC) proposes to engage in a competitive process to appoint a contractor for the provision of Citizen Wi-Fi services; free-to-use public Wi-Fi services in external and internal public spaces, which is expected to include a landing platform to facilitate access and deliver; social, economic, and environmental value through physical features, functionality & content aligned to AWC services, communities, and businesses.

AWC intends on enabling Citizen Wi-Fi services in key external areas of its towns and internally at designated community-based sites, using up to 83 of its fibre sites as connectivity hubs and/or backhaul connectivity for Wi-Fi services. Potential zones to receive Wi-Fi coverage have been identified, which have been categorised as primary, secondary, and community premises zones. AWC has contracted with CityFibre to deliver dark fibre to 83 council-owned sites across Adur & Worthing by November 2022, and have entered into contract with MLL Telecom Ltd to light-up and manage network and internet connectivity over the new fibre network for a period of 5 years. The new fibre network will supply the connectivity for the Citizen Wi-Fi services.

The potential zones along with their categorisation are defined in Appendix A, but it should be noted that AWC does not necessarily expect Bidders to deliver all zones within the defined AWC-contract value (£1.04m). The scale of coverage is expected to be assessed as part of the value proposition at the ITT stage. Potential zones have been included in this PIN to ensure suppliers have knowledge of the types of areas involved, and the potential for expanding services to additional zones at a later date.

AWC anticipates Citizen Wi-Fi procurement to run to the end of January 2021. AWC would like to see early physical deployment activity within 2-3 months of the contract award but limited to 'fibre-ready' locations. The timescales for the rollout of services thereafter is expected to follow CityFibre's delivery of dark fibre to AWC sites.

The service AWC requires goes beyond basic connectivity, and to this end, AWC commissioned a user-centred design lab to identify how public Wi-Fi services can drive social, economic, and environmental value. It is envisioned that value will arrive from a combination of:

Suitable connectivity delivered in appropriate locations

Landing / activity platform(s) promoting activities, services, local information

Connected street furniture aligned with facilities and services

Devolved content to promote inclusivity and community engagement

In addition, AWC is considering subsuming existing corporate* Wi-Fi services under the same service management umbrella, with a single managed service provider - this may or may not require hardware replacement initially, but the procurement may cover maintenance and support of existing equipment and the option to refresh equipment to improve corporate Wi-Fi coverage and security.

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