WiFi hotspots in Newcastle and Gateshead allow people to access the internet for free.

GoDigital_WiFi is a partnership between Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council.

BT provides an outdoor WiFi service in key pedestrian routes in Newcastle city centre, Gateshead town centre and both sides of the Quayside.

The outdoor service is an extension of the free WiFi that was first launched in 2015 last year in many public buildings across Newcastle, including the Civic Centre, Newcastle City Council customer service centres, Your Homes Newcastle centres, libraries and museums.

Providing free access to WiFi has benefits for visitors, workers and residents by allowing people to look up information, book tickets, check their emails, search for jobs and many more, all whilst on the move.

At the launch of the service in 2016, Cllr Joyce McCarty, Deputy Leader of Newcastle City Council, said: “We’re delighted that this next phase of providing WiFi to our residents, business people and visitors is now complete.

“Newcastle can now proudly say that it has joined the super-league of connectivity.

“The Go Digital Newcastle project has been rolling out superfast broadband across the city, and together with that, this further investment means we have a digital infrastructure that puts us well ahead of many other cities in the world.”

The council and the wider public sector are moving an increasing number of services online, and Cllr McCarty said the free public WiFi is making sure residents, businesses and visitors can take advantage of the changes.

“Alongside the other elements of the Go Digital Newcastle programme, public WiFi is working to ensure that people in our city can get the best out of our increasingly digital world,” she said.

The outdoor WiFi service, awarded in partnership with Gateshead Council, is being deployed using a mix of BT telephone kiosks, lampposts and CCTV columns.

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