WiFi network offers freedom to City workers

Anyone with WiFi-enabled laptops, PDAs, media players or smartphones can use the network

More than 350,000 people who work in the Square Mile now have access to wireless broadband.

Europe’s most advanced outdoor WiFi network was switched on in the heart of the City of London on Monday.

More than 350,000 people who work in or visit the Square Mile now have access to wireless broadband.

Anyone with WiFi-enabled laptops, PDAs, media players or smartphones can use the network, built and operated by vendor The Cloud.

Free access will be provided for the first month in association with Nokia. After that, prices will depend on whether or not a customer has a wireless account, although The Cloud will offer a laptop access service for £11.99 a month. Access will also be available at an hourly rate of £4.50.

Supported service providers include O2, BT Openzone, iPass, Truphone and Skype.

The network has been installed in lamp posts and street signs and will offer 95 per cent coverage of the area owned by the Corporation of London.

‘The concentration of affluent business users is the main commercial driver of this project. More general municipal use is not yet on the agenda,’ said Mark Main, senior analyst at Ovum.