Virgin to blanket London with free WiFi
In a move sure to start some frantic conversations in the boardrooms of British telecommunications companies, Virgin is planning to provide free WiFi to everyone within the London area in the near future. The basic free service will be relatively slow (0.5Mbps) but that’s enough to grab your email and visit some mobi-friendly sites. Virgin customers will get an enhanced service (10Mbps) which is easily enough to mean you can switch off your phone’s 3G service and live on WiFi while you’re in town.
So, is this a one-off or the first domino to fall in the mobile data Vs. WiFi wars? It’s difficult to tell right now but mobile carriers worldwide will be watching with interest to see if Virgin’s play disrupts the market enough to mean that they have to follow suit. If so, there will probably be a land-grab to be each city’s free Wi-Fi provider (and get hold of the ad revenue that will probably be used to support the free services). It has already been announced here in New Zealand that Wellington will provide free WiFi in the CBD for the period of the Rugby World Cup 2011 but whether this will extend beyond the RWC event is unclear at present.
The bottom line is that this is yet another move in the market to mean that mobile engagement just continues to get easier and cheaper for consumers. We like that, we really do.
