City of London goes Wi-Fi

City workers will have uninterrupted wireless access to the web via laptops or mobile phones anywhere in the area

The City of London is set to become Europe's biggest Wi-Fi hotspot next week.

A planned rollout across the Square Mile will offer roughly 350,000 City workers uninterrupted wireless access to the web via laptops or mobile phones anywhere in the area.

The system is provided by wireless network operator The Cloud and uses mesh technology to provide continuous access via a series of base stations dotted throughout the area. 

"This is the biggest hotspot of its kind in Europe as far as we know and is unique as users keep the signal wherever they are," said Niall Murphy, chief strategy officer at The Cloud.

"We have been meeting a lot of the big financial institutions in the area and have even found that the network is available in a lot of their boardrooms, so we think there will be a corporate use for it as well."

The service will cost around £12 per month for unlimited access. As the infrastructure is capable of supporting a range of secure public and private applications concurrently, the system is being targeted at consumers and municipal workers.

The Cloud said that, in addition to web access, it can support public services such as telemetry, traffic surveillance and security systems.

Coverage will extend to the City and Soho areas initially, but The Cloud plans to extend the infrastructure across the whole of the capital.