Proposals to expand free Wi-Fi and improve mobile coverage across the Square Mile have been given the green light. A new network will replace the current free Wi-Fi service provided by the Cloud.
London currently suffers from poor broadband speeds with four of the 12 constituencies with the worst superfast broadband being found in the capital – including the City and Westminster. London ranks 26th out of 33 European capitals in terms of broadband speed.
The combination of the Square Mile’s tall buildings and narrow, historic streets mean that in some areas mobile service has been unreliable. The plan is to boost coverage in the “not-spots” by deploying around 400 small cells which can be fitted to nearby lampposts and other street furniture to fill in the gaps.
The project will be rolled out from late spring 2017, although the name of the provider wont be revealed for a few weeks yet.
The city noted that it’s upgraded service will be better than that available at the world’s other major international financial centre – New York.
In addition, there is work to improve wired broadband by speeding up the planning process for street works and shared access to cable ducts.
This should hopefully work really well, especially with the expansion of over the top services like WiFi Calling. It’s true that the problems caused by poor mobile coverage don’t just occur in rural areas, decent in-building coverage even in Central London can be a real struggle to achieve.