Boris Adds Buses And The Tube To Wi-Fi Plans

Boris Johnson, The Mayor of London has been talking up 2012 Olympics Wi-Fi access plans again, this time at bus stops and on the Underground.

He last week told the Greater London Authority’s annual ‘State of London’ debate that plans were underway to look at using bus stops, Tube platforms and even lampposts as Wi-Fi hotspots.

Johnson told the audience that people wanted to be able to use their mobile devices on the Tube and that he was “on the side of progress if we can possibly do it”.

Building up Olympics expectations

Only last month, he made similar claims at another event, suggesting blanket Wi-Fi access could be provided, particularly to the Olympic hub in Stratford, in time for the London 2012 event.

At that time he said wanted a hotspot on “every lamppost, every bus stop”. But it transpired that discussions to make his vision a reality had only just begun.

A spokeswoman for the Mayor of London’s press office told eWEEK Europe that no new plans were in progress following Johnson’s comments last week.

“There are ongoing plans around using street furniture in conjunction with the London Boroughs, but these are still in the early stages,” she said.

These plans, dubbed Project Wi-Fi, now included 28 London boroughs, who will meet next month to kick off discussions.

The spokeswoman added that reports that Wi-Fi provider, The Cloud, could be involved in Project Wi-Fi were misleading. “We would only work through the boroughs,” she said.

The Cloud chief executive, Steve Nicholson, has been quoted on the feasibility of London’s Wi-Fi plans in the past as one of the members of the London Organising Campaign of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) telecoms committee.