London’s Olympic Wi-Fi: Did Boris Jump The Gun?

London Mayor Boris Johnson may have jumped the gun in pledging blanket Wi-Fi coverage in London by the time of the 2012 Olympics last week. The head of the Cloud – the public Wi-Fi provider consulted on the project – warns the expense might be too much times of public sector IT cuts.

Johnsontold a Google event in Hertfordshire that he wanted “every lamppost, every bus stop” in the capital to offer wireless Internet access.

Subsequent reports have said Wi-Fi provider, The Cloud, whose networks include The City of London, was considering the feasibility of the roll out.

But it has emerged that Johnson first floated the idea of extending Wi-Fi access, particularly to the Olympic hub in Stratford, at a meeting of London Organising Campaign of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) meeting of telecoms operators six weeks ago.

Jumping the gun?

At that meeting The Cloud chief executive Steve Nicholson, along with O2 and a number of other LOCOG committee members, agreed that a blueprint should be drawn up on the proposals that they could then consult on.

Keen to clarify the issue, Nicholson subsequently commented that the blueprint would look at how the industry can respond to the anticipated surge in mobile Internet demand as the Olympics come to town.

He said that Wi-Fi was “the only credible means to cater for high performance mobile broadband,” and added: “I suspect Boris is articulating his thoughts around how we can conceptually deliver a Wi-Fi service across all the key London boroughs to create a Wi-Fi city.”

The Cloud has multiple networks in the Nordics, as well as the City of London, that provide coverage similar to what Johnson alluded to providing last week. Its access points are mounted on street furniture, so it is logical to assume a similar network could work across London.

But the Wi-Fi firm’s boss said: “The key is to provide seamless indoor and outdoor coverage so as people wander the streets watching the games, catching a drink, having a sandwich, everything works smoothly.”

All comes down to cost

So it seems Nicholson is taking a more cautious approach to the Mayor’s ambitions, adding: “As ever with such public ambitions it will come down to costs and, I suspect, a worry is the probability of budget cuts as the new government curbs public expenditure.”

A separate, ongoing initiative of Johnson’s, dubbed Project Wi-Fi, has reportedly signed up 22 London boroughs to the idea of citywide wireless access so far. But no details on infrastructure or pricing have been finalised.