Birmingham city centre will be fully WiFi-enabled by January 2007 in a move to encourage businesses to be more flexible and entrepreneurial.

Council leaders believe the network will promote innovation and enable people working in the city to be more mobile.

The wireless zone, which is being installed by BT as part of its Wireless Cities initiative, ensures Birmingham will be at the leading edge of digital developments, says Paul Tilsley, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council.

‘We are serious about establishing the kind of technological facilities that today’s world requires,’ he said.

BT plans to charge people in Birmingham to use the wireless network, but analysts believe cities such as Norwich and Milton Keynes where WiFi access is free, have much greater potential to change the way people and businesses operate.

In Norwich, a large area of the city centre has been wireless-enabled, including its shopping centre, university campus, hospital and business districts, where anyone can log on and use the internet free of charge.

Creating more free WiFi areas in the UK would go a long way to increasing business take-up of wireless technologies, says Gartner analyst Ian Keene.

‘At the moment a lot of businesses do not understand what wireless can do for them, so they are unlikely to pay money out for potentially expensive subscriptions,’ he said.

‘Most laptop computers these days come with WiFi equipment already installed, so if the network can be accessed for free, companies can experiment without having to risk anything.

‘Then it can become something that is integral to the way the business works, leading them to innovate, find new ways to work and ultimately be more productive,’ he said.

One of the most significant innovations would be an increase in how much business could be done while on the move, says Frost and Sullivan analyst Sharifah Amirah.

‘Free WiFi access would drive a big increase in enterprise mobility across UK industry, by giving businesses the ability to allow employees to log on and access the network from wherever they are,’ she said.

‘This would greatly increase business productivity because it would make it much easier to work on the move.

‘If you think of how much time the British in particular, spend commuting, you can see roughly how much time would be gained,’ said Amirah.

Ubiquitous access provided by free WiFi would also create a new group of UK online entrepreneurs, according to Amirah.

‘If you look at the US, most of the biggest new businesses have come out of ventures based on new ideas about what can be done online, such as Google or YouTube,’ she said.

‘The level of access offered by free WiFi would allow people here to have more ideas about how to use the internet, potentially creating some of these huge businesses in Britain.’

What do you think? Email us at feedback@computing.co.uk

Further Reading:

• Birmingham plans WiFi centre
• NHS trust given WiFi treatment
• Heathrow Express offers net access on the move
  

WiFi...in 30 seconds

How densely covered is the UK in terms of WiFi access?

• The UK is the most wireless-enabled country in Europe, home to 39 per cent of the continent’s WiFi hotspots, according to BroadGroup research. London alone has 1,928 WiFi hotspots, more than any other city in Europe.
• BT’s Wireless Cities project will create 12 new WiFi zones in city centres across the UK. The six chosen so far are Edinburgh, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Westminster in central London. All the installations are expected to be complete by March 2007.
• Existing WiFi zones in the UK include the City of London, Exeter, Glasgow, Islington, Milton Keynes and Manchester.
• About 99 million people around the world have WiFi-capable computers, according to analyst Gartner, with the number of wireless hotspots around the world increasing by 47 per cent this year.