O2 Bringing Free Wi-Fi to McDonald’s

O2 has signed a five-year deal with McDonald’s to provide free Wi-Fi in the company’s UK restaurants, as part of the network provider’s campaign to bolster its advertising-supported Wi-Fi infrastructure.

The deal, which will encompass all of McDonald’s 1,200 UK restaurants, will give users access to “premium” high-speed Internet connections via a one-off sign-up process, after which users will be able to log into any O2 Wi-Fi hotspot.

Wi-Fi rollout

McDonald’s introduced free Wi-Fi in 2007 and previously worked with providers such as The Cloud and BT Openzone. The restaurant franchise claims to have 750,000 customers logging in per month.

O2 said the move is part of its drive to build out a nationwide network of free, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots available to anyone. O2 announced its Wi-Fi rollout in January of 2011, along with an advertising-supported model that requires users to sign up with their mobile phone numbers to receive “relevant, timely content”.

“This announcement builds on the significant partnerships already secured by O2 Wi-fi in the past 12 months, enabling millions of people the length and breadth of the UK to access the internet for free whilst on the move,” said Gavin Franks, managing director of O2 Wi-Fi.

The company cited recent partnerships with pub chain Mitchells and Butlers, House of Fraser, restaurant chain Tragus, Westminster Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and said it has added 3,000 hotspots to its UK network so far this year.

McDonald’s said it believes the deal will improve network quality.

“Recent figures showed that a staggering 750,000 McDonald’s customers are logging on in our restaurants each month and we are always looking for ways to improve our customer experience,” stated McDonald’s UK IT director Mark Fabes.

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