How Newcastle City Council and Purple are building the UK's most connected city
Newcastle partnered with Purple to deliver the public WiFi layer across the city: free, secure connectivity that reaches residents, visitors, students and 1,000 local businesses through a single sign-on.
Newcastle, UK
Local authority
logins since launch
authentication rate, vs 71% industry average
seamless connections, no repeat logins
in free WiFi kit for 1,000 local SMEs
Hundreds of thousands of residents servedAbout Newcastle City Council
Newcastle wants every resident, visitor, student and business to get online free of charge, anywhere in the city - with digital inclusion at the heart of a smarter, more connected city.
175 council sites linked by dark fibreThe challenge
An ageing public WiFi network no longer met the needs of a growing, ambitious city.
A major dark-fibre investment connected 175 council sites, giving the council the backbone to build something far more ambitious with Purple.
Reliable even for 50,000+ at St James' ParkThe solution
Purple delivered the public WiFi layer across the city: the landing platform, content filtering, security and real-time analytics.
The partnership delivers:
- A high-capacity WiFi network across all major city centre thoroughfares, free for everyone and reliable even during 50,000-plus crowds at St James' Park.
- Indoor coverage at key civic and commercial venues, including the Grainger Market, libraries and museums.
- Cloud-based security and content filtering: DNS filtering, phishing and malware protection, Internet Watch Foundation integration and GDPR-compliant data handling.
- Seamless roaming via the Purple app, so users connect once and move between hundreds of hotspots without repeated logins.
- Real-time analytics on footfall, dwell times and movement: the foundations of evidence-led urban management.
Removing two big barriers: cost and complexityA smarter city, built for everyone
Building a smarter city means everyone can take part - and the North East has one of the UK's highest rates of internet non-use.
Free, reliable WiFi removes the biggest barriers: cost and complexity. 40 Purple Hubs now bring seamless connectivity to social housing across the city.
Enterprise-grade WiFi tools at zero costSupporting local business
Purple gave 1,000 local SMEs £120,000 of free WiFi hardware and licences, each with a plug-and-play Purple Hub - plus a featured listing in the app's Newcastle venue directory and access to footfall analytics.
“Free WiFi in Housing Plus schemes through Purple Hubs helps tackle digital exclusion by giving residents easier access to online services and connectivity, while linking into the wider Newcastle Free WiFi network.”
Steve Manning
ICT Solutions Architect, Newcastle City Council
Get the full Newcastle City Council case study
The full story, the full numbers and the design behind one of the UK's most connected cities. Download the complete case study as a PDF.
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