SINGAPORE — Users tapping into Singapore’s free Wi-Fi network will soon find it easier to do so as the number of hotspots is set to quadruple over the next two years and accessing the service will be made more straightforward.

The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) announced yesterday that the number of Wireless@SG hotspots will double to 10,000 by next year and 20,000 by 2016. Areas where hotspots will be added include Sentosa, industrial parks, MRT platforms and parts of Orchard Road.

While the IDA does not track how much of the island has Wireless@SG coverage, increasing the number of hotspots to 20,000 will mean that most public areas with high human traffic across Singapore will have access to the network.

And to make it easier to access Wireless@SG, starting from Tuesday, users will no longer need to manually log in with a username and password every time they want to connect.

Instead, they will only need to undergo a one-step authentication process, after which their digital device — as long as it has a local prepaid or postpaid SIM card — will be able to automatically connect to the network when it is in the vicinity of a hotspot.

An IDA spokesman said that these initiatives come at a time when the usage of smartphones and tablets has increased significantly in people’s professional and personal lives, and improving the Wireless@SG network would support this.

Minister for Communications and Information, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, who was the guest-of-honour at the launch of the new phase of Wireless@SG, noted: “These enhancements are timely. The pervasive cellular network and presence of Wi-Fi hotspots have paved the way for service providers to roll out location-based and context-based services to consumers and businesses.”

Dr Yaacob said the new hotspots would be rolled out progressively and that the Land Transport Authority was set to start a trial to offer free Wi-Fi at 28 MRT station platforms, which include all North East Line stations and 12 other stations with high commuter traffic. The IDA is exploring ways to strengthen both Wireless@SG and cellular networks in tunnels.

Since its launch in 2006, the number of subscribers who access Wireless@SG has grown to two million, with a monthly average of between 200,000 and 300,000 active users who log on for about 32 hours each month.

When Wireless@SG started, there were only 900 hotspots, which offered speeds of 512kpbs. Since then, speeds have been ramped up twice, to 1Mbps in 2009 and 2Mbps last year.

Mr Clement Teo, a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research who focuses on enterprise telecoms and mobility, said the additional hotspots would provide a good level of coverage.

“Twenty thousand hotspots is a nice compromise. You have to balance this against the cost of maintaining and upgrading the network, and the service is free, with no revenue made. It is also really a supplement to mobile networks,” he said.

Mr Teo noted that while the service could be patchy at times, this is something that also affects other major cities with free Wi-Fi networks, such as Hong Kong and San Francisco.

Meanwhile, the IDA is looking to address concerns some users have about poor connections at premises with high foot traffic, such as cafes. Its spokesman said it is hoped that, through funding Wireless@SG operators, the system could be made more robust. “Part of this funding is to help enhance resiliency, through hardware system upgrades, for instance. If access points are not working at cafes, then telcos are expected to engage the establishments and ensure the systems are kept running.”

From June onwards, Wireless@SG operators will also offer data analytics services to businesses. For instance, a mall will be able to gain information on shopping habits through data on where shoppers are logging on to the Wireless@SG service. This could also pave the way for targeted location-based advertising.

On whether this might constitute an invasion of privacy, the IDA spokesman said: “It is the question of whether we deal with shoppers as a group or as individuals. In this case, we aggregate their information as a group and it is like heat maps. No personal information is being collected.”