BT WiFi Roams in US

LONDON -- UK business travellers will soon be able to get BT Openzone wireless broadband on both sides of the Atlantic, following a deal announced today by BT with Airpath Wireless Inc.

Airpath, the leading manager of wireless networks in the US, has already secured 1,500 Wi-Fi access points across the US, rising to 4,600 in the next 12 months. BT Openzone customers will initially be able to log on to 350 of these access points in the US from September.

Together with other roaming agreements already in place, BT Openzone customers will soon be able to use over 1,710 Wi-Fi access points worldwide. This includes the 700 sites now available in the UK.

The Airpath network is made up of locations created by different ISPs which rely on Airpath to manage all aspects of their customer billing, as well as strike roaming agreements with other operators. The two-way agreement means US visitors who are customers of any of the ISPs in the Airpath network can now use BT Openzone sites when in the UK.

The new roaming agreement adds to BT's existing deal with TeliaSonera, Europe's leading Wi-Fi operator. BT Openzone subscribers can use any of TeliaSonera's network of more than can use over 660 HomeRun points in Scandinavia, France (including SAS departure lounge in Paris), Belgium, US, Thailand and London.

These agreements come in addition to BT's swift progress to deliver the UK's leading Wi-Fi network and make broadband on the move a reality across Britain.

In May, Pierre Danon, chief executive officer of BT Retail, announced that BT's progress in delivering the UK's leading Wi-Fi network had meant its target to reach 4,000 BT Openzone sites by summer 2005 had been brought forward to summer 2004.

Alongside sites located in places such as Hilton Hotels, Roadchef service stations and BAA airport terminals, BT Openzone is also the exclusive service provider for sites which are part of The Cloud network.

Roadchef, one of the first companies to trial Openzone, has also demonstrated its commitment to mobile broadband by confirming today that it will install sites in all of its UK service centre locations by the end of the year. It currently has BT Openzone sites in 6 of its 29 locations.

BT also announced today that the UK's leading provider of specialist training and conference venues, Initial Style conference centre group, will install BT Openzone sites in 10 of their 28 centres nationwide.

Steve Andrews, managing director, products and enterprises, BT said: "As we predicted at the beginning of the year, the roll-out of our Wi-Fi network is developing apace and will provide a real bonus for business travellers in particular. For a limited outlay we've been working hard to lay the foundations for the best Wi-Fi network in the UK and, with 700 sites, we are the UK's leading provider. It was a logical step for BT to supplement this UK network with the first roaming deal to give Wi-Fi access right across the US."

Todd B. Myers, chief executive officer of Airpath Wireless, Inc, said: "We are pleased to enter into this strategic roaming relationship with BT, who we believe are clear leaders worldwide in enabling WiFi access. This agreement is tangible proof of what we at Airpath have always believed, that worldwide roaming must be achieved to extend the available footprint for providers and usability of end users.

BT understands the power of an aggregated network in delivering an enhanced solution to their end user customers. We at Airpath appreciate BT's confidence in us to deliver a high quality roaming solution to their network."

More than 100 major companies have signed up for BT Openzone, with more than 1,900 employees using BT Openzone sites. These include the BBC, Carlton Communications plc, Toshiba, Scottish Enterprise, Royal and Sun Alliance, John Lewis, Microsoft and GE Capital.

British Telecommunications plc (BT)

Airpath Wireless Inc.