Internet equipment maker Cisco is to build a Wi-Fi mesh network connecting the rural Italian Province of Brescia.

The network will mean that more than 200 rural towns will be able to have broadband and voice-over-IP.

Cisco claims that this is one of the largest Wi-Fi deployments. Access points will be mounted on light poles, switches installed in town halls and there will be a management system at the core of the network.

There will be more than 800 access points when the project is completed.