UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 16, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) and HvalaCloud are currently launching free wireless Internet access at Yekaterinburg’s public places and on public transport, the bank’s press service reports.

Several trams started the project off in early November: free Wi Fi is now available in ten trams on Routes 5,6,13,14,15,18,19,23,25, and 26. To get connected to the Internet, you only need to sign up for the service once using your phone number. Once this is done, your Internet connection will come on automatically at all the other trams in the network. The bank has also introduced the same service at 118 restaurants and coffee places in Yekaterinburg, including Svoya Kompaniya, Simple Coffee, Yapona Mama, Pan Pizza, Ratatouille, and Coffeeshop.

URBD E-Business Managing Director Vadim Belopolsky says the bank is interested in this project as it is seen as a way to apply new customer attraction technologies.

‘Wireless customer communication is getting increasingly more ubiquitous and growing into a general trend. The UBRD is the only bank to stay in touch with its customers through Wi Fi at the moment,’ Belopolsky says.