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BT's move to increase hotspots shows mobile broadband demand is still on the up

Wednesday 19 August 2009 Comment

BT to double wifi hotspots

BT is set to respond to the increasing demand for internet access on the move by doubling its number of WiFi hotspots in the UK.

The company already operates some 500,000 hotspots across the UK, built up over a seven year period; but the new plan will take the figure to a million. BT offers WiFi hotspots in a variety of public places across the country via its Openzone network. In addition, 12 city centres have public WiFi networks installed; and BT also runs WiFi services in Starbucks coffee shops, a contract it won from competitor T-Mobile.

BT is attributing the growth plans to the explosion of smartphones and other smart handheld devices. "People are perfectly happy to get these devices out of their pockets in the street to update their social networking sites or check their emails, which isn’t the case with laptops,” said Dave Hughes, BT Retail’s director of wireless broadband.

The increasing demand for ever faster mobile broadband speeds and better coverage whilst out and about are also highlighted as reasons for the planned growth.

 

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