BT is to supply Nottingham with free public WiFi for the next ten years.
Nottingham City Council picked the UK’s biggest ISP to set up 41 hotspots around the city centre, allowing commuters, shoppers and visitors to work and browse the web on the go.
Work will begin this summer, with large sections of the city centre, including the Market Square (pictured) the the Creative Quarter, to be covered.
Councillor Nick McDonald, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Jobs and Growth said: “We’re really pleased to have signed this major agreement with BT to bring free and unlimited wi-fi to everyone when they’re out and about in the city centre.
“It’s a great deal for the city and BT. The free WiFi will come at no cost to the council or taxpayers and in return, BT will get access to some of Nottingham’s lamp posts and other street furniture, allowing the company to install new mobile infrastructure.”
BT and Nottingham City Council say that the network will be able to support the 310,000-plus population and the 10.7 million who visit the city every year.
Owen Moody, BT East Midlands regional director, said: “This exciting project will make Nottingham the first city centre in the East Midlands to have a BT WiFi network like this freely available. BT already operates the largest WiFi network in the UK and it is great news that even more people will be able to benefit from the technology thanks to our agreement with Nottingham.”
Nottingham City Council has chosen BT to build and manage the network for the next decade as part of the Super Connected Cities scheme.
BT has already introduced WiFi into a number of city centres across the UK including Cardiff and Glasgow.
Elsewhere across the UK, Virgin Media has been picked to supply cities including Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham with free public WiFi as part of Super Connected Cities.
Leave a Reply