TELECOMS & MOBILE
Esat BT puts Insomnia deal to bed
21-10-2003
by
Esat BT has installed Wi-Fi gear in a number of Insomnia cafes in Ireland and according to the head of BT Openzone in Ireland, there's much more in store.
On Tuesday, the company said that it had signed a contract with Insomnia Coffee Company to put the high-speed wireless networking gear in nine of Insomnia's cafe's in Dublin and Galway. The two firms said that the deal marked the first rollout of Wi-Fi hotspots in a chain of coffee shops in Ireland.
Elsewhere, Wi-Fi has become a near standard feature in cafes frequented by tech-savvy executives and students, with US coffee behemoth Starbucks famously putting Wi-Fi hardware in many of its locations, followed by rivals in the food industry, including fast food giant McDonald's. Wi-Fi, which is based on a technology called 802.11, allows users with specially equipped laptops and handheld computers to access the Net at blazing speeds, but without plugging in.
Esat BT's latest instalment in Insomnia's locations brings its number of Wi-Fi hotspots in Ireland to 45, with that figure poised to more than double to 100 by the end of March, explained Mary Morrissey, BT Openzone marketing manager, Ireland. Among the company's existing locations are Dun Laoghaire Harbour and a number of large hotels throughout the county.
Esat BT parent, British Telecom, last year launched its Openzone business unit specifically to encourage Wi-Fi use and roll out and the company has already deployed services in 400 UK hotspots, with 4,000 set to be on-line by the end of 2004.
What's more Openzone has devised a series of initiatives that have included Wi-Fi rollouts in phone boxes, so that users in nearby parks, cafes, restaurant and hotels can use the company's wireless networks. Another Openzone scheme, called "Hotspot in a Box," saw the company sell its DSL subscribers 802.11 equipment along with their broadband subscriptions so that networks in small businesses could be quickly and easily set up.
Morrissey said that Esat BT was eager to construct its own Wi-Fi phone boxes in Ireland, noting that there are 14 such sites in Northern Ireland, but said that since Esat BT sold its payphone business to Smart Telecom, it would need to finder a partner to launch the service. She declined to give details, but said the "Hotspot in a Box" scheme and other similar products were also under consideration by Esat BT.
"We are very excited about all of the types of sites that you will see coming on line," Morrissey told ElectricNews.Net. "I can't say much about specific products, but we see many vertical markets where we think the technology would be appropriate... we are looking at a few ideas for products to suit different kinds of locations," she added.
Though Wi-Fi has been one of the hottest technologies of 2003, actual profits derived by operators have been slim. According to BT's own numbers in May, its UK Openzone network got off to a slow start averaging only over 90,000 minutes per week, a figure which works out at just two hours per hotspot, per day.
But Morrissey said that Esat BT was pleased with Irish uptake so far and said that a new 50 percent price cut in annual Openzone subscriptions, from EUR120 down to EUR60 per month, would help drive use. That lower price is available only to subscribers who sign up for the service before December.
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