IP: British and Netherland carrier rollouts of public 802.11

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ultradevices com>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 22:00:48 -0700
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>, Dave Farber IP
<dave () farber net>
Subject: British and Netherland carrier rollouts of public 802.11

http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=11186
BT launched WLAN hot spots
26/06/2002 Editor: Tamsin McMahon
UK telecoms firm BT has launched the first of its WLAN hot spots, putting it
in competition with mmO2, the mobile unit that demerged from BT last year.

The service, called ³BT Openzone,² recently unveiled its first three hot
spots ­ areas where users can connect their PDAs or laptops a high-speed
wireless internet service ­ at Heathrow airport and in central London. BT¹s
announcement comes a fortnight after the UK government OK¹d wireless
internet access for public areas such as airports and cafes.

The company is planning a commercial launch of 20 hot spots at the start of
August and hopes to have 400 sites available by next June. BT had earlier
said it hoped to have 4,000 hot spots across the country by 2005.

BT¹s public WLAN service uses the Wi-Fi standard and requires customers to
buy a subscription to BT Openzone. Users have to be within 100 metres of a
hot spot, which offers connections up to 500Kbps.

The telecoms firm is to offer an unlimited monthly subscription for £95
(E145) a month, plus VAT, or a pay-as-you-go plan for less than £0.10 (E.15)
a minute.

BT Retail CEO Pierre Danon said the service will help BT reach its goal of
generating at least £30m (E46m) a year by 2005. ZDnet reports that Intel is
also testing corporate Wi-Fi in the UK at Paddington station, along with
Megabeam.
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KPN to launch WLAN in the Netherlands
26/06/2002     Editor: Joe Figueiredo


Dutch telecoms concern KPN is planning on implementing a wireless local area
network (WLAN) in the Netherlands, reports e-business magazine Emerce.

No details of the plan were disclosed, but it is in line with the wireless
strategies of KPN¹s Japanese partner, NTT DoCoMo, and Deutsche Telekom, and
comes hard on the heels of BT¹s recent announcement that it is to start
testing WLAN in the UK.

WLAN, which comes in several technologies and protocols, allows users to
communicate wirelessly using a high-capacity connection within a limited
area like an airport, office or hotel. Such WLAN access-points are referred
to as ³hot spots.² 

WLAN is gaining popularity among mobile telephone operators, who can use it
to offer clients such value-added services as broadband internet.
Joe Figueiredo is a regular contributor to international ICT trade journals
and corporate executive magazines. He also produces the odd lifestyle and
satirical article. Joe holds a BA in Mathematics from St Anselm¹s College,
N.H, and an MSc in Computer and Information Science from the University of
Massachusetts. For further information on Joe's writing activities, visit
fits.scarlet.nl

Article location: http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=11183
-- 
Robert J. Berger
UltraDevices, Inc. / Internet Bandwidth Development, LLC
15550 Wildcat Ridge Saratoga, CA 95070
408-882-4755 rberger () ultradevices com / rberger () ibd com


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