UK cities to get blanket wi-fi coverage

Plans for a UK-wide wi-fi network have been unveiled that will give residents in the UK's cities access to wireless broadband internet from laptops, PDAs, games consoles and mobile phones.

The first phase of the project is due to be completed by March 2006 and will see citywide wi-fi hotspots rolled out in eight of the UK's biggest cities and three London boroughs.

Residents of Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford, along with the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Islington, will be the first to benefit from the wireless internet coverage.

The networks are being built by European wireless provider the Cloud and will be open to any ISP wanting to offer services. Blanket wireless coverage will be provided in the cities through wi-fi equipment fitted on lampposts and street signs.

People wanting to use the wireless network will then have to pay one of the ISPs for access and revenues will be split between the Cloud, the local council and the ISPs.

More cities are expected to be announced later in the year and George Polk, CEO of the Cloud, said the aim is to provide wireless coverage across all the UK's cities and major centres of population.

He said in a statement: "Providing ubiquitous wireless broadband access, over a network that is available to millions of wi-fi devices, and will be available to the new generation of wi-fi phones, gaming devices, and other applications, will have a major impact on the way people communicate, work and play in city centres."

The initiative has been backed by MP Derek Wyatt, head of the All-Party Internet Group, who said: "Such a large-scale project is an exciting prospect for communications in the UK, allowing people to send emails, make cheap phone calls, surf the internet, do business and even play games online, wherever they are."