Wi-Fi hotspot lands at UK airport

Birmingham International Airport (BIA) has become the first airport in the UK to set up a commercial Wi-Fi hotspot.

The wireless network is situated in the airport's second terminal and will be run by UK Explorer, which already operates public internet access terminals at the airport and across Britain. BIA is confident that the hotspot will be popular with business passengers who need to check their email and access the internet while travelling.

Ray Savage, head of commercial market development at BIA, said in a statement: "Wi-Fi will predominantly appeal to our business travellers, which is why we have installed our first transmitter in this largely business passenger terminal. With the growing demand for wireless connections, we're confident that it will be warmly welcomed by passengers at Birmingham Airport."

To access the service, users will need an 802.11b-compatible laptop or PDA. Customers can buy 30 minutes, one hour, one day, one week or one month's worth of access time, and BIA will also offer corporate accounts. Pricing details are not yet available.

Several other companies are also building commercial Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK. BT's Openzone service launched last month with 20 hotspots, and is aiming to have created 400 by summer 2003.

Another company, Megabeam, is planning to operate Wi-Fi hot spots at 15 major UK railways stations.

Megabeam already operates Wi-Fi hot spots at 20 locations throughout Europe, including Rome airport and Milan airport.

And US coffee chain Starbucks has just begun trailing Wi-Fi in Europe, including at two outlets in London.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK