The Cloud set to bring WiFi internet to 4m people in UK cities

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 04-Jan-06

LONDON - Wi-fi company The Cloud is to launch the first nationwide wireless network in the UK this March, allowing 4m people to connect to the internet outdoors.

The wi-fi network will cover Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool and the London boroughs of Camden, Islington and Kensington & Chelsea.

As well as allowing users to connect to the internet via wireless-enabled computers, it will let people whose phones have WiFi chips bypass their mobile phone network to make inexpensive phone calls using voice over internet protocol.

George Polk, CEO of The Cloud said: "Providing ubiquitous wireless broadband access over a network that is available to millions of wi-fi devices, and will be available to the new generation of WiFi phones, gaming devices and other applications, will have a major impact on the way people communicate, work and play in city centres."

The Cloud is a privately backed wi-fi company, which launched in 2003, and has partnerships with companies including O2, BT, Vodafone, Skype, Nintendo and Intel. The way it operates means that any ISP or network operator that wants to can provide the network to its customers.

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