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NEWS

Free hotspot service launches in Europe

"A company based in Ireland has announced plans to launch a network of free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Europe.

"Free-hotspot.com will install a free Wi-Fi service in restaurants, cafés, pubs, hotels and other public locations, initially in London and Paris. The firm claims that it will provide the necessary hardware at no cost to the hotspot venue. The service will be funded through local, national and multi-national advertisers, along with agencies using online marketing programmes to reach Wi-Fi users through Free-hotspot.com's 'HotSpot' channel as well as its online 'Portal' advertising channel.

"But experts are sceptical. Bob Tarzey, founder of analyst firm Quocirca, said: 'There is an element of internet bubble coming back into these things. There is a lot of talk about free phone calls and free Wi-Fi but, like in the early days of ISPs, it has to be paid for in the end. It would be good it got the existing Wi-Fi players to come together to offer an all-in-one service making it much easier to get access wherever you want.'

"To promote the use of free global Wi-Fi, Free-hotspot.com has launched an online directory of 6,000 free hotspots throughout the world.

"Free-hotspot.com is located in Dublin and is a subsidiary of Anacapa Holdings Ltd, an international online marketing company."

[Wi-Fi: 29 September 2005]