BT has secured a landmark deal with McDonald’s that will see wireless broadband access offered to customers in hundreds of the fast food chain’s restaurants across the UK.
Under the agreement, BT Openzone access points will be installed in around 500 McDonald’s flagship and drive-thru restaurants by the end of March, in a move that will create the country’s largest broadband network.
The initiative is designed to promote BT’s forthcoming Wireless Broadband Week, which takes place at the end of this month and is intended to raise awareness of the benefits of the WiFi network by offering users free access.
BT already has an extensive network of WiFi Hotspots at locations targeted at business travellers, including airports, railway stations and hotel. However, it hopes the tie-up with McDonald’s will make the network more accessible to a wide-base of consumers.
Commenting on the deal, Steve Andrews, BT’s managing director for products and enterprises, said: “The scale of BT’s network means that wireless broadband is growing from a premium offering for the few into something that will become part of everyone’s lives, whether that’s for work, or for simply surfing the web.”
The BT Openzone access points will initially be installed in refurbished flagship London restaurants in The Strand, Oxford Street and Liverpool Street station. They will then rolled out in most drive-thrus across the country.
Last September BT announced plans to convert almost 100 of its phone boxes into special Wi-Fi hotspots. The first 200 sites will be located in the UK’s biggest towns and cities where there is a large concentration of people (see Broadband Britain Boosted By New Wi-Fi Hotspots).
