Four London boroughs are gearing up to offer a free Wi-Fi service to residents in the area, according to whatmobile.net.
Harrow, Haringey, Barnet and Brent are teaming up with infrastructure firm Arqiva to provide the hotspots. The discrete access points will draw from both 3G and 4G signals to provide Wi-Fi to passers by.
The hotspots will offer residents free internet for up to 30 minutes per day. Anyone who wants to use the service for longer than this will have to pay – it will cost £5 for a day’s usage or £30 per month.
Arqiva will pay to install the Wi-Fi network on local assets, such as lampposts. The firm will then get a share of any income that is generated from the services. At first, the hotspots will only appear in parts of the borough that are regularly busy, however it is planned that this will be expanded to cover the whole area in the future.
The move comes after similar Wi-Fi services were made available in other boroughs of London, such as Fulham, Hammersmith, Camden, Islington and Wandsworth.
Talking about the scheme, Brent Council’s lead member for customers and citizens Councillor James Denselow told killburntimes.co.uk: “In these tough economic times it is important to give people the access to services in the most affordable, cost effective way possible.”
