The deal was struck late Monday by negotiators from the European Parliament, the EU's 28 member states and the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

The plan is to help local authorities fund equipment for public free wifi services in 6,000 to 8,000 municipalities in all 28 member states in the bloc.

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"The funding will be allocated in a geographically balanced manner across the EU countries and, in principle, on a first-come, first-served basis," the European council said in a statement.

The goal is to have the scheme in place by the end of 2017, it said.

Andrus Ansip, Commission vice-president in charge of the Digital Single Market, said the deal was a "welcome first step", but insisted that "much more needs to be done to achieve high-speed connectivity across the whole EU territory."

The scheme is part of the EU's ambition for an EU wide digital single market – one of the top priorities of European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

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