The Mayor of Groningen, mr. Peter Rehwinkel, officially inaugurated the Groningen Unwired Network at the NITE (Northern IT Event). The first phase of the network, in the city center and in the Zernike campus has been rolled out. Though the network is only in the first phase, the Zernike Campus is already the largest wifi employment in the Netherlands.

The second phase of the network will be rolled out over the section of Groningen within the Ringroad. When completed, it will be the largest single sign-on wifi employment in Europe.
Completion of the network will be in 2011, when the whole of Groningen urban area will have coverage.

The network is an initiative of the Groningen University, The Hanze University and the Groningen Municipality. After an European tenderprocedure, Unwired Holding has been chosen as the owner and operator of this network, with the Groningen partners as anchor tenants. The contractvalue for 4 years is 3 million euro. The Groningen Police force will also become a tenant of the network.

The network is not only unique by it's size and it's technology. It is also the first PPP- network that is based on the philosophy of open networks. The contractpartner offers a wholesale-platform for serviceproviders, where they can compete on a level playing field, without competitive restrictions. The networkservices are so called 'whitelabel', which means that any serviceprovider can provide services under it's own name and trademarks.

The network is accessible for all students in the Eu with an eduroam account, and, while in the first stage of rollout, it will offer free access to visitors.