Four More London UK City Boroughs Join Free Public Wi-Fi Project

The London Boroughs of Barnet, Harrow, Haringey and Brent have joined over a dozen others in England’s capitol city to confirm plans for deploying a free public wireless Internet (wifi hotspot) service to local residents and visitors.

The London Borough of Camden last year became the first of 17 councils to put their free outdoor wifi service live (here), which was part of a 10-year deal that allowed telecoms operators to “piggy-back” on existing infrastructure (e.g. street furniture), such as by placing small cells (mini wifi, 3G and 4G base stations) on lamp posts and bus shelters.

Arqiva, which provides much of the infrastructure behind UK radio, TV and mobile communications services, has been put in charge of the latest deployment(s) and already has similar deals in place with Camden, Wandsworth, Hounslow, Islington, and Hammersmith and Fulham. It has also signed a free wifi plan with Medway and Southampton city councils.

Nicolas Ott, Arqiva’s MD for Telecoms, said (V3):

“We are very happy to be working with an increasing number of local authorities and city centres to help them realise their digital ambitions. Our WiFi and small-cells portfolio continues to go from strength to strength; over the past 15 months we have doubled the number of access points deployed.”

As with the previous deals the new network will only offer 30 minutes free Internet access per day and after that you’ll need to buy a day pass for £5 or pay a surprisingly expensive £30 per month for a subscription; that’s more expensive than some fixed line superfast broadband ISP bundles.

It’s understood that the new network will be rolled-out over the next 12 months.