Using the internet in a holiday park cafeteria, how prehistoric is that?

Thanks to Citymesh , a Wi-Fi specialist from Bruges, holidaymakers no longer have to leave their RV to surf at the coast.

And there's more: thanks to Citymesh, you will soon also have free access to the large-scale Wi-Fi network of your own city!

The Citymesh team is ambitious, and rightly so! In 2006, five young engineers established Citymesh. Their successful pilot project in Blankenberge – when an urban communication network freely accessible to everyone was set up – put the wireless network integrator on the map immediately. Not only are (almost) all holiday parks on the Belgian coast now equipped with a Wi-Fi network, but thanks to constant innovation Citymesh also serves other niche markets.

"Connectivity over long distances and areas with a high concentration of users is the focus of the Citymesh services", says Citymesh founder Mitch De Geest. "The idea of establishing large-scale wireless networks in all major towns and cities came up in 2006, but at the time, they weren't yet ready for it. So we turned to the market of holiday parks on the coast and exhibition halls. That really hit the mark. As well as holiday parks, we now serve almost all the exhibition halls in Belgium, with the exception of Brussels Expo. That means Wi-Fi for everyone: from visitors to stand holders and the organisation."

2012 was the year of events: "Visitors at festivals like Jazz Middelheim and Les Ardentes could benefit from free Wi-Fi", says Mitch De Geest. "And in 2014, we also started rolling out a large-scale wireless network in Antwerp city centre. The cities market seems to be ready now."

As well as providing Wi-Fi services, Citymesh also offers its customers the chance to use the network for marketing purposes. For instance, the network owner can collect all sorts of information about its customers. "Even when they're not logged into the network, we can record the number of smartphones and tablets present", explains Citymesh founder Mitch De Geest. "This information can be used to generate reports, such as the busiest visitor times, the busiest places in the city, the profile of returning customers, the average length of time people stay, etc. This insight helps gain a better understanding of the customer/visitor and provide them with the right information at the right time."

Who are your main competitors? "They're the Telenets and Proximuses of this world. But what makes Citymesh stand out from them is that we build the network for everyone and create a platform that can be used by residents, visitors, municipal services and emergency services."

What does the future hold? "We are currently talking to train stations, football stadiums, museums, libraries, shopping centres, etc. In short, places where large groups of people gather and need to be able to communicate with one another free of charge via wireless networks."

We look forward to it!