The new wi-fi service is the latest move by Barclays to make banking easier for its customers – by providing more opportunities for them to access the internet.

The wi-fi hotspots will be rolled-out across 1,500 of Barclays branches across the United Kingdom, allowing them to offer a richer, more seamless experience for customers across digital and in-store channels.

LTE Release10 boasts increased peak data rate, DL 3 Gbps, UL 1.5 Gbps via “bonded carriers”

3 UK has a pilot  LTE  network in Maidenhead and Slough, to be followed by a consumer-based trial, and awarded an infrastructure supply  contract. 3 UK has agreed to buy 2 x 15 MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum from EE, and plans commercial LTE launch in 2013.

Initially planned for 2009, the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz auction by  Ofcom of  LTE  spectrum  was  repeatedly delayed. Bidding is now expected to begin Q1 2013.

Ofcom has announced that it will be releasing 800 MHz digital dividend 5 months earlier than originally planned, meaning it will be cleared for LTE deployments across much of the UK by Spring 2013. Subject to the outcome of the auction, both O2 and Vodafone are expected to launch LTE commercial services in Q2 2013.

The contract is only for ticket offices, escalators and platforms because it would have required major construction work to have added connectivity to the network’s tunnels.

From July 2012 all Tube passengers will initially be able to connect to the internet for free.

After the Olympic and Paralympic Games it will be a pay-as-you-go service.

During three weeks over the summer, 44,600 people allowed their mobile coverage to be tracked for our 3G survey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14582499

The move comes as Britain’s biggest retailer seeks to embrace customers’ changing shopping habits, but also reinvigorate its domestic business, under new chief exec Philip Clarke. Tesco is currently experimenting with the WiFi service in four stores but it could be rolled out quickly elsewhere. It would also make Tesco the first British supermarket chain to provide free WiFi. Currently Starbucks and McDonalds are among the biggest providers of public WiFi hotspots, although Starbucks’ are operated by BT Openzone, which requires payment or a BT Broadband account.

The size of Tesco’s estate – it has 2,700 stores covering almost 37m square ft – will significantly expand the number of free WiFi hotspots in the UK. Many are currently in coffee shops, such as Starbucks and fast food restaurants such as McDonalds. But Paul DeBeasi, analyst at Gartner, said retailers could be the next wave of businesses to offer free internet surfing.
Colin Jeffrey, a director at Deloitte, predicted that many customers would expect WiFi as a matter of course within a year: “Its almost taken for granted in coffee shops and hotels now. Retailers are going to have to move quickly to meet the basic expectations of customers.”

For Tesco, another incentive to offerWiFi is its Clubcard loyalty scheme, which is poised to become increasingly digital.

Further details on this article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bdc3b174-b435-11e0-9eb8-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1Vqw8BOJ1

Over the course of the next month, the project will attempt to chart the availability of 3G and 2G services up and down the country.

Full article here.

Read full article on BBC website here

http://www.itpro.co.uk/631816/rural-lte-trial-seeks-home?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ITPro%2FToday+%28IT+PRO+-+Today%29