O2 to have the biggest hotspot area in London

(Sorry for iPhone photo o2 showed it on there Facebook account)

Landmark deal creates Europe’s largest free wifi zone

Visitors to and residents in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea are to enjoy free wifi access on their mobile phones, laptops and tablet devices following a landmark deal between Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and network operator O2. The deal will result in the largest free wireless hub in Europe, making free wifi available to millions of residents and visitors.

The deal, which will run at no cost to the councils or the taxpayer, is part of both councils’ plans to ensure that the millions of visitors that come to the city have the best experience possible and can make the most of what London has to offer - particularly given the double celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Olympic Games taking place this year - whilst delivering longer term benefits to businesses.

Free wifi access will be available throughout Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea once the Metro wireless network is installed on the street furniture. It will initially be rolled out in a limited number of areas and then throughout the boroughs over the longer term. O2 will begin installing the network in January 2012. O2 Wifi launched in January 2011 with the ambition to roll out free, fast and open wifi, via strategic partnerships, across the UK.

Cllr Philippa Roe, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance at Westminster City Council said:

“This is a landmark achievement for Westminster; Westminster welcomes over a million tourists a day, is home to 250,000 residents, employs over half a million people and sees 4,000 business starts-ups each year. Next summer’s Olympic Games mean that London will be putting on the biggest show on earth and as Westminster has a starring role, visitors to London will easily be able to share their pictures and updates of the Olympic events across social networking sites.”

Councillor Nicholas Paget-Brown, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said: “I am very pleased that we have been able to come to this agreement and we look forward to working with O2. Residents and visitors having free access to the latest mobile technology will help us to continue to offer value for money for residents.”

Derek McManus, Chief Operating Officer for O2 said, “This groundbreaking deal - the first of its kind in the UK - will see us deliver high quality connectivity across London in time for London 2012. Our longer-term aim is to expand our footprint of O2 Wifi, which is open to everyone, and also intelligently enhance our services at street level, where people need the network the most.

“Our £500m annual network investment programme is focussed on integrating new layers of technology into the existing network to enable a seamless and sustained customer experience. We are driven entirely by our customers’ needs and believe that services should be delivered in the best possible way, across multiple networks and supported by different technologies.”

• Telefónica UK Limited is a leading communications company for consumers and businesses in the UK, with  22.2 million mobile customers and 800,000 fixed broadband customers as at 30 September 2011.

• Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc, a business division of Telefónica S.A. which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic, and has 57.8 million customers across these markets.

• In 2006 Telefónica Europe acquired Be, the UK fixed broadband provider, and in October 2007 O2 launched its broadband service using the Be network.

• O2 is the naming rights partner of The O2, the world-class entertainment venue.

• O2 employs around 11,000 people in the UK and has 450 retail stores.

• In October 2010 O2 was voted the UK’s best mobile network by the readers of both What Mobile and Mobile Choice magazines.

• O2 was ranked highest in customer satisfaction for both UK mobile and fixed broadband customers according to the J.D. Power and Associates UK Mobile and Fixed Broadband Studies 2010.

• O2’s UK 2G mobile network provides voice and data services to 99% of the UK’s population.

• O2’s UK 3G (HSPA+ 900 / 2100 MHz) network currently provides voice and high speed data services of up to 14.4Mbps (21Mbps in the coming months) to over 84% of the UK population.

• O2 was the first UK operator to deploy a 4G/LTE trial network which has demonstrated peak speeds of over 100Mbps to a mobile device.

• Telefónica Europe also owns 50% of Tesco Mobile, which operates in the UK and Ireland, and 50% of Tchibo Mobilfunk in Germany. 

• For further press information about O2 go to http://www.o2.co.uk/news
• For information on O2 products and services go to http://www.o2.co.uk/