Covering public libraries and inquiry centers, community halls, parks and government buildings in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, the GovWiFi program will be introduced in phases - with 120 sites to be wi-fi ready by the middle of this year and another 230 sites by mid-2009.

The service is open to residents and visitors.

Those holding Hong Kong identity cards can for a HK$50 annual fee apply for encrypted access to protect their personal data or transactions at any Hong Kong post office.

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Content filtering and peer-to-peer blocking will be included in the government service.

Construction of the hot spots, estimated at HK$200 million, was awarded to PCCW with another HK$20 million annually for maintenance and lease-line rental.