The free WiFi service provided by the DAP government in Penang is a waste and a deception because it could not be fully utilised and only available in non-strategic areas, said Gerakan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong.

"Chief minister (Lim Guan Eng) announced the facility could be used within a radius of 100 metres of wi-fi routers but even within 20 metres, access cannot be made in housing estates and areas with large numbers of people.

"This is a waste," he told a press conference in George Town today.

Earlier, Oh and his deputy H'ng Khoon Leng had made field tests on the free wi-fi facility in Lorong Argyll here.

Oh added that the state government should first get its act together on this first phase of its free wi-fi offering before embarking on its grand plan of the second phase which will cost RM8.49 million, involving the installation of 750 wi-fi routers.

- Bernama