Twenty-five municipal facilities will have free public wi-fi Internet by July in a deal that will pour $315,000 of guaranteed revenue into city coffers.

The wi-fi provider, IceNet Wireless, will be allowed to set up 75 screens in high-traffic areas of the buildings and sell advertising during the five-year deal.

People won’t be bombarded with ads on their phones or computers when they log on to a facility’s wi-fi connection. Instead, they’ll have the option to see the ads on their devices, according to company CEO Kalai Kalaichelvan.

Kalaichelvan sees a business opportunity in offering wi-fi for free in city buildings because of the number of people who pass through the facilities annually. All those eyes are attractive to advertisers, he said.

Right away you can see the business IceNet — a division of Ottawa-based EION Inc. — is going after in a competitive advertising market.

Why advertise at places like the Canadian Tire Centre when there are all these city facilities ripe for ads, Kalaichelvan said.

The 25 city buildings have between 6 million and 8 million visitors annually.

The wi-fi would bring people to the facilities, compel them to stay there, and thus, create advertising targets. Kalaichelvan calls it “the power of waiting.”

“Why do people hang out in Starbucks? Not just for the coffee. Because there’s wi-fi there. Then they go buy coffee,” Kalaichelvan said.

Pay-per-use wi-fi is a “total disaster” and Internet infrastructure shouldn’t be a cost borne by city taxpayers, Kalaichelvan said.

The company has a vision to roll out the business model to other cities and is working on bringing similar infrastructure to Newfoundland.

As a bonus, IceNet has also installed to TVs in Ottawa City Hall’s rotunda to show Olympic coverage.

The city finally signed the agreement with IceNet after publishing a request for proposals last March.

Mayor Jim Watson and Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, chairman of council’s IT subcommittee, were probably tired of being asked when the city will have wi-fi in its buildings.

Watson has been trying to make City Hall a “people place” and he said installing free wi-fi will further that goal.

Tierney said residents will be “finally given the connectivity they deserve.”

The Internet speed in the facilities will be 10 megabytes per second.

Twitter: @JonathanWilling

The 25 facilities due to receive free Wi-Fi in the coming months are: