World Cup stadiums will have free Wi-Fi

The 12 stadiums where the World Cup will take place next year will offer free Wi-Fi access to spectators - the intention is to reduce possible bottlenecks across the 3G and 4G networks in and around the venues.

According to telecoms trade union SindiTelebrasil, it is expected that about 30 to 40 percent of the data usage during the games will go through the indoor Wi-Fi network.

Private sector investment for the voice, 3G and 4G infrastructure around the World Cup should reach R$ 200mi ($89mi), while spend towards the Wi-Fi set-up will be less than R$ 100mi ($44mi) according to SindiTelebrasil.

But the actual ability of mobile providers to deliver is questionable: a report published in May by Brazilian national telecoms body Anatel around its action plan for the improvement of personal mobile services showed firms are still failing in the mobile internet access front.

Just as the Confederations Cup ended last week, the Brazilian government tried to shift the blame to Fifa for failures that occurred around the telecoms infrastructure during the events. Then Fifa gave a thumbs up to the Brazilian hosts and said all went without a hitch.