BT announces millionth WiFi hotspot, and competition to find it

BT is this week laying claim to the title of most extensive UK WiFi network, having doubled its number WiFi hotspots to reach the magic million mark across the UK and Ireland.

The company's WiFi network consisted of 500,000 hotspots six months ago - including home and business hubs as well as around 3,000 Openzone installations in hotels, airports and coffee shops. Now, with the huge growth in data traffic on smart-phones, and the fact that BT offers Openzone access deals to iPhone customers with O2, Vodafone and Orange, the company has been expanding to hit the million milestone.

Gavin Patterson, chief executive officer at BT Retail, said: “Whether at home, at work or when out and about, wireless access is central to keeping people and communities better connected. We’ve grown from 500,000 to one million hotspots within six months, and will continue add more to meet demand from smart-phone, laptop, iPod and now e-reader users.”

And to celebrate its achievement, BT plans to launch a competition to locate the millionth hotspot, the identity of which has been kept secret. The competition will launch this week, with further details to emerge on the company's Openzone Twitter feed.