Birmingham
city council and BT are building a new city centre Wi-Fi network
that will provide free access to council services.
The new Wireless
Birmingham Wi-Fi network will cover a square mile area of the city
centre. The network will also offer paid-for broadband internet
access to businesses and visitors to the city.
Paul Tilsley,
deputy leader of Birmingham city council, said, “The Wireless
Birmingham agreement is a clear demonstration of how well we have
worked in partnership with BT – who are making a significant
financial investment to establish this network.”
BT will fund
the city centre network, with the council providing access to
its street lamp posts to house the network infrastructure.
People will be able to access information and services from the
council free of charge through an internet portal.
The Birmingham
deal is part of BT’s Wireless Cities initiative, which will see
Birmingham leading the way in early 2007, followed by other major
UK cities in the first phase of an ongoing programme. A number of
towns signed up to the Wireless Cities initiative earlier this
year.
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