🏛️ Governance

Medellín Digital: Free Public WiFi & Digital Inclusion

Medellín Digital launched in 2007, backed by the city, the national Communications Ministry and utility UNE-EPM, to close the digital divide. Today the Secretaría de Innovación Digital runs 411 free WiFi points across all 16 comunas and 5 corregimientos, plus telecenters helping residents complete government procedures online.

Live 📅 since 2007 ✔ Editor-reviewed

✔ Reviewed by the 1001 Smart Cities editorial desk · 🔎 Last verified 2026-07-30

🏛️ Governance Digital government

📊 Impact

The public WiFi network logged more than 40 million connections in 2025, official Alcaldía de Medellín figures show.

🎓 Lesson

A 2007 connectivity program can stay alive nearly two decades later simply by continuing to add access points under the same name, rather than being replaced by a rebrand.

Evidence🏛️ Official

Scale🏙️ City-wide

📖 Terms in this entry: Civic participation platform · Digital identity · LoRaWAN

Sources

↗ Alcaldía de Medellín — Medellín Digital (official program page)Current operator, scope, and telecenter/WiFi description; page updated 29 Jul 2026.

↗ Alcaldía de Medellín — press release, 28 Dec 2025411 WiFi points, 40 million connections in 2025, 16 comunas + 5 corregimientos coverage.

↗ Semana, "Medellín será una ciudad digital" (27 Jan 2007)Original 2007 launch, with Mayor Sergio Fajardo and the national Communications Minister; UNE-EPM as technology partner.

↗ Alcaldía de Medellín — Puntos de conexión WiFiCoverage detail across all 16 comunas plus rural corregimientos 50/60/70/80/90.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇨🇴 Presupuesto Participativo & Digital Voting (medellindecide.co) · Medellín Free public Wi-Fi since 2007 later carried the city's own civic-participation platform, letting it go fully virtual from 2020. 🇨🇴 SIES-M Integrated Emergency & Security Camera Network · Medellín Another verified project from Medellín. 🇨🇴 Ayacucho Tram & Metrocable Feeder Lines · Medellín Another verified project from Medellín.

Explore the wider context

🔑 Your Smart City Is Owned by Someone Else 🪪 Digital government guide 🏙️ Medellín city profile 🏛️ Governance projects

📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Medellín Digital: Free Public WiFi & Digital Inclusion” — Medellín, Colombia. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/medellin-digital/ (last verified 2026-07-30). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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