Virgin Media Business UK Expand Free Superfast WiFi into Bradford City Park

Cable ISP Virgin Media Business has expanded its free “superfast” public wireless (wifi) network into Bradford’s City Park by using the latest small cell technology. It is the second location in Bradford to benefit from the service after Bridge Street went live with an identical solution last year.

The move, which makes wifi internet access available to both citizens and visitors in the respective areas, builds on last year’s collaboration between Bradford and Leeds Councils, VMB and Global Reach Technology.

Kevin Baughan, VMB’s Director of Wireless, said:

“City Park is now the second site in Bradford City Centre to benefit from free public Wi-Fi and we’re delighted to have played a key part in making it happen.

The use of mobile devices like smartphones has rocketed in the last few years, meaning that everyone wants access to faster internet services on the move. Using our superfast fibre network we’ve been able to provide the cities of Leeds and Bradford with superfast Wi-Fi services. We’ve also laid the foundations to support mobile operators in the future rollout of high capacity overlays for 3G and 4G mobile services using the next generation of small cell technology.”

The effort forms part of a City Centre Growth Zone initiative and similarly links into the wider Urban Broadband Fund (UBF), which saw Bradford and Leeds secure a pot of £14.4m from the UK government last year in order to support the roll-out of “ultrafast” (80-100Mbps) broadband ISP services and “high speed public wi-fi“.

Apparently free wifi is viewed as an “extra bonus to businesses along with the rate relief they can receive“, the latter of which is only available if they can boost local jobs.