The UK’s mobile operator O2, a subsidiary of Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider Telefónica, which is big in Europe and Latin America, is planning to deploy 13,000 Wi-Fi hotspots over the next two years — with free internet access.
BSkyB has purchased The Cloud for £50 million. The Cloud, which had gross assets of £17.1 million at the end of 2009, launched its Wi-Fi hotspot business in 2003 and now has approximately 5000 hotspots in the UK and 22,000 in Europe. It also runs Wi-Fi hospitality spots in the Marriott and McDonalds.
Initially the hotspots will be available in 450, O2-owned sites, reports the BBC, but will be expanded to other locations, including shops and restaurants. The network won’t just be for O2 customers: anyone with a mobile phone will be able to sign up and use the service, reports The Register. Free internet access will be paid for by venue advertising.
O2 already offers its premium subscribers access to hotspots run by The Cloud and BT OpenZone. That totals around 7,500 hotspots. Those deals will remain in place while O2 deploys its new free-to-all Wi-Fi network.
O2 Wi-Fi, will eventually replace the mobile operator’s existing 450 O2 Cloud hotspots, the company said in its announcement on Wednesday. It has promised that by 2013, it will at least double the number of existing premium hotspots offered by BT OpenZone and The Cloud, or close to 13,000, according to the company.
BT’s OpenZone and Fon networks are currently the biggest networks in the UK. BT’s Fon network offers WiFi connections that piggyback on BT home broadband networks. But O2 said that its competing service would offer “premium public hotspots, as opposed to using residential connections with limited bandwidth” – a swipe at FON. The Cloud claims to have around 22,000 hotspots internationally, while Virgin Media is also toying with the idea of creating a nationwide wi-fi network, reports the BBC.
Users wanting to take advantage will need to provide a mobile phone number, from any network, which will be confirmed with a text message. O2 then links the number to the MAC code (unique identity) of the handset, enabling it to automatically authorize future connections as well as spotting when the customer enters a hotspot area – enabling the delivery of advertising by text message or MMS. O2 says it expects venues hosting the service will pay for it, so targeted advertising is just a sideline, said the company.
In other news, Amtrak Cascades is now offering Wi-Fi aboard all its Amtrak Cascades trains, in the Northwest. Look for the network “AmtrakConnectCascades”.
