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More Wi-Fi hotspots for BT customers?
Now if only roaming fees would disappear...

By Graeme Wearden

Published: Wednesday 28 July 2004

The head of BT's wireless division has hinted that Openzone is keen to team up with T-Mobile, giving its customers access to more hotspots

Chris Clark, BT wireless broadband chief executive, said: "There are only three large-scale operators in the UK: BT, The Cloud - who we already have a deal with - and T-Mobile," said Clark. "The other operators are important, but they are niche."

"Our focus is to get the scale operators working together," Clark said.

BT's roaming agreement with The Cloud, the UK's largest Wi-Fi network, gives it access to some 4,000 hotspots. At the last count, T-Mobile had 500 hotspots in locations such as Starbucks coffee shops and Texaco petrol stations.

T-Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Without roaming deals, a customer on one UK Wi-Fi network has to pay again if they want to use the hotspots of another. Given the high prices levied by some operators, this has been a barrier to wireless take-up.

According to one analyst, it's important that this problem is overcome.

Dean Bubley of Disruptive Analysis said: "Simple roaming between Wi-Fi networks is essential. It needs to be like banks' ATM cash machines: ideally, they all interconnect. At a push, two large and well-branded networks can coexist. But fragmentation reduces the overall value and utility of the technology."

At present, Openzone customers can use The Cloud's hotspots without incurring any additional fee. Bubley thinks it's important that this remains the case.

"Users might pay extra to roam at a hotspot at Heathrow if they really have to, in the same way they might pay a £1 fee to get cash out of an ATM in a nightclub at 2 am when they're drunk. But in 95 per cent of cases, there should be no incremental charge or inconvenience."

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK