SINGAPORE - OCBC Bank on Wednesday (July 20) started providing free Wi-Fi access to an estimated 30,000 visitors a day at multiple public locations at Orchard Road as well as at OCBC Centre, the Singapore Sports Hub and 33 OCBC Bank branches, the bank said in a statement.

The initiative, intended to help meet rising demand for mobile broadband, comes in the wake of the Government's announcement in April that it will double the number of Wireless@SG hot spots to 20,000 by 2018 - thereby making Singapore the country with the highest hot spot density in the world.

There are five hot spots within the Orchard Road area. Wi-Fi coverage extends up to a 100m radius from each of the five bus stops situated outside the Royal Thai Embassy, Tangs, Far East Plaza, Royal Plaza at Scotts and The Heeren.

Across the Singapore Sports Hub, there are 684 OCBC Free Wi-Fi Zone hot spots, covering the Singapore National Stadium, Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang Wave Mall and OCBC Arena to OCBC Aquatic Centre, Water Sports Centre, Sports Hub Library and Sports Hub Museum.

Members can connect to the Wi-Fi in the vicinity of OCBC Centre, as well as in the 33 OCBC Bank branches in shopping malls like Ion Orchard, Causeway Point, Ang Mo Kio, Nex Shopping Mall, Toa Payoh and VivoCity.

More than 30,000 users are expected to benefit each day from this free Wi-Fi access across over 700 hot spots.

Mr Dennis Tan, Head of Consumer Financial Services Singapore at OCBC Bank, said: "Being at the forefront of the digital play in Singapore for the past few years, it is natural for OCBC to do our part to support the government's push for wireless Singapore by providing this service through more than 700 OCBC Free Wi-Fi Zones across town.

"By availing this free Wi-Fi service to the public, whether you are an OCBC customer or not, we hope to entrench OCBC's leading digital position in everyone's minds," he added.

The free Wi-Fi access is an extension of OCBC bank's string of digital initiatives launched in the past year, including the launch of an Application Programming Interface (API) platform, voice recognition technology, OCBC OneTouch (thumbprint biometric authentication for mobile banking apps), OneWealth (an integrated wealth management app) and a financial literacy app for children.