Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[rob v]

BT’s Wi-Fi Play Reported As Snub

BT announced deals with BAA, Welcome Break and Hilton Hotels that to reach its target of 400 Wi-Fi hot spots by this summer, and 4,000 by June 2005. These deals -- which follow similar agreements with Costa Coffee and the Jarvis and Thistle hotel groups -- will help BT to target its service at business executives on the move. “Our strategy for rollout is based around where the Road Warrior stops,” commented BT Director of Mobility David Hughes. “We're certainly planning to introduce hot spots based on 802.11a, and 802.11g, when we see demand. One commentator said that Hughes “showed less enthusiasm for 3G, though, and claimed that Openzone's Wi-Fi offered a better service at a cheaper price.” Hughes cited these statistics: It costs an Openzone customer less than 5 pence to download 1MB of data, compared to 50 pence for a 3G user.

http://www.wcai.com/lea/le_news2003.htm#feb6