Landmark deal creates Europe's largest free wifi zone in Westminster

Visitors to and residents in

Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea are to enjoy free wifi access on

their mobile phones, laptops and tablet devices, following a landmark

deal between Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington

and Chelsea and network operator, O2.

The

deal will result in the largest free wireless hub in Europe, making

free wifi available to millions of residents and visitors.

The

deal, which will run at no cost to the councils or the taxpayer, is

part of both councils' plans to ensure that the millions of visitors

that come to the city have the best experience possible and can make the

most of what London has to offer - particularly given the double

celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Olympic Games taking place

this year - whilst delivering longer term benefits to businesses.

Free

wifi access will be available throughout Westminster and Kensington

& Chelsea once the Metro wireless network is installed on the street

furniture. It will initially be rolled out in a limited number of areas

and then throughout the boroughs over the longer term.

O2

will begin installing the network in January 2012. O2 Wifi launched in

January 2011 with the ambition to rollout free, fast and open wifi, via

strategic partnerships, across the UK.

Cllr Philippa Roe, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance at Westminster City Council said:

"This

is a landmark achievement for Westminster; Westminster welcomes over a

million tourists a day, is home to 250,000 residents, employs over half a

million people and sees 4,000 business starts-ups each year.

"Next

summer's Olympic Games mean that London will be putting on the biggest

show on earth and as Westminster has a starring role, visitors to London

will easily be able to share their pictures and updates of the Olympic

events across social networking sites."

Councillor

Nicholas Paget-Brown, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment

at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said:

"I am very pleased that we have been able to come to this agreement and we look forward to working with O2. 

"Residents

and visitors having free access to the latest mobile technology will

help us to continue to offer value for money for residents."

Derek McManus, Chief Operating Officer for O2, said:

"This

ground-breaking deal - the first of its kind in the UK - will see us

deliver high quality connectivity across London in time for London 2012.

"Our

longer-term aim is to expand our footprint of O2 Wifi, which is open to

everyone, and also intelligently enhance our services at street level,

where people need the network the most.

"Our

£500m annual network investment programme is focussed on integrating

new layers of technology into the existing network to enable a seamless

and sustained customer experience.

"We

are driven entirely by our customers' needs and believe that services

should be delivered in the best possible way, across multiple networks

and supported by different technologies."