Central London to Get Free Wi-Fi Connectivity over Time

Based on the new agreement with the network operator, O2, and Westminster City council, the Royal Borough of Kensington, and Chelsea, the people in these places can enjoy free outdoor Wi-Fi access as time passes. The interesting part of the deal is that Europe’s largest free Wi-Fi zone will be available without a penny being spent.

According to the deal, O2 will fully fund the entire service from keeping the revenue raised from advertising on the service’s landing page. They will provide the service initially to a limited number of areas through masts on street furniture.

Thereafter, the service will reach throughout the boroughs over the longer term. A spokesperson for Westminster revealed that O2 will start installing the Metro wireless network on street furniture this month to provide free Wi-Fi access in some areas.

The carrier will cover the whole two boroughs with a precise timescale, which is yet to be confirmed. The widening of the services might be done after the success of the initial stage and O2′s advertising model.

Since the signals are coming from lamp posts and other street furniture, the free service can be accessed only in outdoors. If this project turns successful, then the competition between the network providers in the UK and Europe will move into an interesting phase.

This is because people will naturally prefer the option of using their PC by a window to get a weak signal for free rather than to pay for the commercial connections. Meanwhile in the US, the free Wi-Fi services across cities were not successful as the telecom companies became uncharacteristically enthusiastic about enforcing competition law.

In addition, some urban areas didn’t get 100% coverage as the signals were interrupted by obstacles. This is an important step for O2 to accomplish in their aim of being a major national network of free Wi-Fi hotspots.

They started to work on this project back in the beginning of 2011. Meantime, Westminster can also use the network to refresh their plans by allowing the entire staff to work flexibly.