City of London gets blanket wi-fi

The City of London has signed an agreement to blanket the square mile with wi-fi access.

The network, installed and managed by The Cloud, will go live shortly and cover the entire City in the next six months. The blanket wi-fi will provide city workers with wireless internet access for laptops outside of traditional venues such as coffee shops, as well as on the move connectivity for PDAs and mobiles.

The City is intending to hide the masts in existing street furniture, such as lampposts and street signs. The network will be open to any service provider.

The City of London announcement is the latest of metropolitan networks in the UK. Earlier this year, The Cloud inked an agreement with eight cities including Leeds and Manchester to provide blanket wi-fi.