City of London to get blanket Wi-Fi

City of London to get blanket Wi-Fi: "Workers in the City should soon be able to get wireless Internet access even when outside the office

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City of London to get blanket Wi-Fi
Graeme Wearden
ZDNet UK
January 20, 2006, 16:55 GMT

Workers in the City should soon be able to get wireless Internet access even when outside the office

The Corporation of London is poised to award a multi-million pound contract to build a wireless network covering the financial heart of the capital.

The Corporation's policy committee met on Thursday to assess the merits of three wireless operators — BT Openzone, The Cloud and Wicoms. According to those familiar with the process, the winning operator will be announced on Monday 23 January.

It is unclear at this stage how widespread the deal will be, but one report has claimed that the contract for constructing and managing it could be worth more than £10m.

The Corporation is following the lead of Canary Wharf, which last August awarded The Cloud a contract to deploy a Wi-Fi network over its estate. That network covered several underground retail spaces, restaurants, bars, gardens, promenades and other public spaces, but did not reach offices at 1 Canada Square, the tower at Canary Wharf.