SHOPPERS ON Dublin’s Grafton Street are to get free wifi from this weekend as Bitbuzz rolls out its “Freedom” service.

It is the first stage in a phased roll-out that will see the complimentary internet access extended to Henry Street by the end of July and to areas such as Smithfield, Temple Bar and the Docklands later this year.

Cork will get free wifi before the end of the summer, with Galway scheduled for before the end of the year. The company has not ruled out extending it to other large towns, and other areas of Dublin at a later date.

“It’s a shop window for us to promote our products,” said Shane Deasy, managing director of Bitbuzz.

He said the speed of the free-of-charge service would be same as that offered to users of hotspots in its cafe and hotel locations.

“As users grow, we’ll continue to add capacity,” he said.

The company also supplies wifi services to hotels and coffee shops. It is envisaged that for tourists and other visitors, the free wifi will become an extension of the service they are already using.

The free wifi is only designed for short periods of use, with sessions limited to 20 minutes at a time.