The Champs-Elysées Committee, the association that promotes the Avenue des Champs-Elysées around the world, and JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, unveil today Wi-Fi Champs-Elysées, a free, unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi service on the famous Avenue.
On the eve of UEFA Euro 2016 and following a consultation by the Champs-Elysées Committee, JCDecaux is deploying an outdoor Wi-Fi network that will be available along the length of the avenue between the Place de l’Etoile and the Champs Elysées roundabout. Wi-Fi Champs-Elysées benefits from an optimal coverage resulting from the combined density of Wi-Fi access points in businesses (boutiques, cafés and restaurants) and the JCDecaux Morris columns®, ideally positioned along the Avenue.
The Wi-Fi Champs-Elysées will offer a user-friendly interface that provides a city guide (places of interest, shopping locations, restaurants) and an interactive map. This web and mobile Wi-Fi gateway will be available in 7 languages (French, English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Italian and Japanese).
The first advertiser to sponsor the service from its launch is UnionPay International, co-branding with China Merchants Bank. Both advertisers will benefit from homepage branding and banners throughout the Wi-Fi access interface. In addition, JCDecaux will showcase the service and its sponsors on 341 outdoor advertising panels across Paris during the launch week.
Permanent informational signs in the window displays of the Champs-Elysées’s businesses will inform visitors of Wi-Fi availability, indicating the network SSID: “ _Champs-Elysees_freewifi.”
Wi-Fi Champs-Elysées will provide free and seamless high-speed internet access to the 100 million annual visitors of the Champs-Elysées, including 30 million tourists. This technology will pave the way for the development of new experiences such as making smooth video calls to family or friends across the world, browsing the web, making hotel reservations or checking in for a flight.
Jean-Noël Reinhardt, President of the Champs-Elysées Committee, said: “Providing Wi-Fi on the Avenue is an initiative the Champs-Elysées Committee has been planning for a long time in order to better serve our visitors whose expectations for connectivity are high. The Champs-Elysées Committee chose JCDecaux because we share the same ambition for the Champs-Elysées: to succeed in the digital transformation of the Avenue by offering a comprehensive service to visitors, brands and all business operating there. From the start, Wi-Fi Champs-Elysées was designed as a full service and not merely a technical access; for example, it will be possible to guide visitors along the Avenue, gain insights by enquiring about their perception of the Champs-Elysées, and also to encourage increased participation in the events taking place on the Avenue or introduce new interactions with brands.”
Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by the Champs-Elysées Committee, a historic partner of JCDecaux, to deploy, on the eve of UEFA Euro 2016, free Wi-Fi access on the most beautiful avenue in the world. This innovation once again demonstrates that the network of our street furniture, unique in city centres, offers an ideal platform to provide connected services and facilitate city life. JCDecaux already offers a free Wi-Fi network in Paris airports, bus shelters equipped with small cells in Amsterdam, and public Wi-Fi hotspots in Düsseldorf and Los Angeles. The deployment of free Wi-Fi on the Champs-Elysées strengthens our position as a leading partner in Smart City services sector. Our success rests on an ambitious Research and Development strategy and a unique ability to innovate thanks to “JCDecaux Link”, a division entirely dedicated to connectivity. The Avenue des Champs-Elysées is continuously reinventing itself and JCDecaux is proud to offer its expertise and the skills of its teams to one of the symbols of Paris and of France.”
