Free Wi-Fi network comes to Sydney centre

Community promotions company myKP is intending to open a slew of hotspots across central Sydney offering users free Wi-Fi connectivity in return for accepting ads.

The myKP hotspots are now live in the Galleries Victoria, Broadway Shopping Centre and Greenwood Plaza, along with an additional 30 locations to go live by the end of September, including Hyde Park, Pitt Street and George Street, the company said.

While connectivity is free, users will need to register with the company to gain access and, during log-in, consumers will see "splash advertising".

"Once a user connects to our hotspot, they fire up their browser and will see our log-in page. This page contains the advertising usually consisting of a larger ad which could be Flash, video, html [for example] and then four advertising buttons on the left hand side ... Once a user logs in they can surf as normal, no pop ups etc," a spokesperson said.

MyKP says it plans to expand the hotspots with more functionality including VoIP and IM in the future.

The company's spokesperson said the network has up to 11Mbps of bandwidth to be shared between all users, with the capacity to increase in the future.

Last week the company announced it had partnered with community group Lane Cove Alive to launch a hotspot in the northern suburb's Village retail centre. The venture, according to a joint statement, is part of "efforts to revitalise and enhance the Village and attract more visitors to the area".

CNET.com.au's Ella Morton contributed to this report