Broadband Fixed Wireless Access (BFWA) is becoming not only an alternative but also a popular option for accessing broadband in the present UK. The latest news that confirms this fact is the project unveiled by London Corporation to cover the entire city with a network of public Wi-Fi hotspots.

Wi-Fi hotspots have a comprehensive presence in the UK and based on the survey by Ofcom, there were estimated to be more than 12000 wi-fi hotspots in the UK by the end of 2006. In fact, the UK has already overtaken other G7 countries like the USA, Japan, Germany and France as a Wi-Fi enabled nation. It is estimated that about 18 hotspots are available for every 100,000 population in the UK. This blistering growth in the number of Wifi hotspots is largely due to the fact that the setting up of Wi-Fi hotspots has been exempted from taking license which became a law in 2003.

In the early January, the City Corporation was chalking out plans to extend the wireless broadband network across the city. Subsequently, the Cloud, the wireless broadband provider won the contract of this project. The estimated plan was scheduled to be completed by six months and the operation of new Wi-Fi hotspots are expected to become operational soon after.

The Wi-fi network covers nearly 95% percent of the

London city and it will make use of lamp posts and street signs as nodes for carrying the network. The network enables the users to access VoIP services and other browsing services via their laptops or internet-enabled phones supported by broadband providers like BT Openzone, Truphone and skype.To begin with, Cloud is planning to roll out nearly 350000 wireless broadband provisions across the city. According to the report by cloud, the new Wi-Fi hotspots will provide uninterrupted broadband access for the users. In addition, the users will not experience any difficulties with varying connection speeds in different places.

Nokia has already announced that the users of its internet-enabled mobiles will automatically access this Wifi network when they are within the range of any hotspot. Furthermore, Nokia will not charge its customers anything for accessing internet, in the first month.