A Wi-Fi company has closed its free service on buses in Shanghai and several other cities because it was losing money.

The service provided by the Beijing Yilu Redian Information Technology Company was available on about 5,500 buses in the Pudong New Area.

The service required passengers to download an app, which would then connect automatically.

“The cost to provide such a service is very high,” said company official Luo Mei. The company invested about 60 million yuan (US$8.7 million) including the cost of installing routers and paying Internet providers.

It relied mainly on advertising to raise money from its operations in 13 cities. It will continue in Beijng and Kunming while it explores a new business model.