‘Dodgy’ Wi-Fi service switched-off
FOLLOWING the statement given by the regional judicial council (CJC), Benitachell town hall has disconnected the internet facilities provided jointly by the Guifi.net foundation and Grup ATTI - the company of the former councillor Manolo Segarra.
The disconnection took place on Tuesday, and the mast was located on the Cumbre del Sol.
The town hall agreed to null the contract signed with Guifi.net for 'total omission of the procedure' in an extraordinary council session on December 27. A reasonable time of one and a half months was given for the dismantling of the antennas and satellites. After this period and without any action on the part of the companies, the council finally deactivated them under the advice of a telecommunications specialist. “We have had the deference of leaving them for some time but they have not made the disconnection. Now our obligation is to comply with the law and abide by the opinion”, said the councillor for communication, Victor Bisquert.
The agreement was signed with Guifi.net by the former mayor, Josep Femenía, just two hours before he left his position. “He took advantage of his position at the town hall to exclusively provide a service that other companies in the sector could have accessed. The nervousness and bad manners of today have finally confirmed what we already suspected: that there was great business and much to lose with the cancellation”.
Guifi.net has been providing a free Wi-Fi service at Benitachell since 2012 without any official contract. Through this agreement, the council gave free public internet in exchange for the company managing the operation of the service.
On suspicion of possible irregularities, the current town hall team agreed, in a council session in May 2018, to initiate a file for the declaration to nullify the agreement.
After a few months studying the case, the Consell Jurídic Consultiu (CJC) of the Valencia region issued an opinion in which it supports, through various legal arguments, the decision of the council to declare as void the agreement signed with the Guifi.net Foundation 'based on the total omission of the procedure for approval'.