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- From July, the service will be operating in the first 100 Autogrill restaurants and will be progressively extended to all 350 restaurants by the end of the year.
- The partnership between the two companies speeds up the digitalization of the country by providing increasingly smart services.
This summer drivers will be able to use Wi-Fi free of charge in Autogrill restaurants on Italian motorways, courtesy of Italian phone operator TIM. Under a partnership between the two companies, from as early as July the service will be available in the first 100 restaurants and will then be extended to all the restaurants by the end of the year.
The project provides for coverage of around 350 Autogrill service areas with Wi-Fi Internet connection with TIM 4G or 4G Plus (where available) and NGN ultra-broadband technology through over 600 access points powered by Cisco, the project’s technical partner, based on Cisco Meraki solutions.
Expected to be used by around 500,000 customers a day, the new service will be working when the national motorways are most congested (typically during the summer break), starting with the main Autogrill restaurants, like Chianti, the restaurant on the A1 with a large circular fireplace in the middle of the room; Secchia Ovest, near Modena, where the first “Eataly for Autogrill” opened recently; Villoresi Ovest on the Milano-Laghi motorway, with its characteristic tripod structure and, across the way, Villoresi Est, with its instantly recognizable conical roof, flagship of Autogrill Group’s eco-sustainability policy.
The locations are on the A1, A14, Salerno-Reggio Calabria, Auto-Brennero, Autostrada dei Fiori and Auto-Laghi motorways, those most frequently used by holidaymakers. The service will gradually be provided in Autogrill restaurants in big cities and in railway stations as well.
Travellers will be able to use the Wi-Fi service free of charge thanks to the potential of TIM’s new-generation networks, which provide extremely fast data-transmission rates. So stopping for a break will turn into an entertainment or business experience, with better browsing and streamed videos, in line with the digital-life model.
Access to the service will be simple and fast with the authentication template supported by TIM’s cloud technology.
"This initiative is yet another step forward in Autogrill’s digitalization process, which is designed to provide services meeting the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s travellers,” said Autogrill Europe CEO Alessandro Preda. “Thanks to our illustrious partners, we intend at the same time to contribute to the gradual adoption of advanced digital practices by combining this connectivity with dedicated apps and services, thereby fostering further digitalization. Besides, Autogrill Group has already contributed to this process by introducing services like e-invoicing (invoices sent to customer’s mailbox), self-ticketing (to avoid check-out queues) and online fidelity systems,” concluded Preda.
“The initiative confirms TIM’s commitment to digitalizing the country and aims to provide its customers with an increasingly fast and reliable infrastructure capable of meeting growing demand for connectivity. Thanks to its major ultra-broadband investment plan, TIM currently reaches over 92% of the population with 4G and 51% with fibre optic, and plans to reach 98% and 84%, respectively, by 2018. Even now, we can offer data-transmission rates of up to 300 Megabits a second on our fibre optic and mobile networks,” stated TIM’s head of ICT Solutions and Service Platforms Simone Battiferri. “Our partnership with Autogrill will enable travellers to use the best connectivity to access online services and applications, even while they are driving to their holiday destinations.”