This summer, Wall AG treated Berlin to cost-free WiFi: From the end of May to the end of August, Berlin based street furniture specialist and outdoor advertiser Wall AG has proactively equipped about 30 locations in the city-centre with WiFi hotspots, thus providing free internet access in the public space to citizens and tourists. The company's initiative proved a success: During the three month period, the Wall WiFi app has been downloaded about 40,000 times. The new WiFi service counted around 600 users daily.

Daniel Wall, Chief Executive Officer of Wall AG: "The numbers of downloads and users we have achieved exceed our expectations. The summer-project is a big success for our company. Especially the strong, positive feedback from foreign tourists has confirmed our conviction that free WiFi in the public space is a key competitive factor for cities with a focus on tourism."

The Wall WiFi app was available for download not only in German but also in an English version, to make the Wall WiFi easily accessible for foreign tourists. The assessment of the WiFi project has shown that around 50 percent of the Wall WiFi users came from other European countries (Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands) and Russia, while the rest was from Germany.

The Wall WiFi app meets the modern demands of urban, mobile target groups: 98 percent of users accessed the Wall WiFi from mobile devices, while access from laptops played a minor role with only two percent of users.

With the end of the project phase, Wall AG suspends the additional service for the time being. Daniel Wall: "It was our aim with this temporary project to gain important insights for the further development of our bluespot system and our new waiting shelter AVUS. At the same time, we have put forward a practical solution for the implementation of cost-free WiFi in Berlin's public space. In the next step, we will focus on the relaunch of our digital city-information-portal bluespot, which is scheduled for autumn."

Wall-Group: Key Facts

• International street furniture supplier and outdoor advertiser in Germany and Turkey


• Part of the international JC Decaux cooperation – the number one in outdoor advertising worldwide


• Innovative street furniture in highest quality design; more than 28 different design-lines


• Made to measure solutions provided by in-house research and development unit


• Single-source production, cleaning and maintenance guarantee highest quality standards


• Intelligent outdoor advertising on more than 93,100 high profile advertising spaces, including 6,484 advertising spaces on means of transportation such as tramways, busses, underground trains and trucks


• Sales division WallDecaux Premium Outdoor Sales with five regional sales-offices in Germany ensures national marketing competence


• Largest national provider of City Light Poster (CLP) format advertising displays in Germany


• Marketing-portfolio in Germany: analogue and digital advertising displays in more than 50 cities, AirportNet, ShoppingNet, Leipzig Central Station, Berlinale International Film Festival, Smartphone-App U snap, bluespot, RollAd truck advertising medium, as well as transit advertising in Berlin, including all underground stations


• Number of employees: 777 (as at June 30, 2012)