London Wi-Fi usage 'best in the world'

Londoners are making the best use of the spread of wireless broadband by logging onto Wi-Fi hotspots in their droves.

Systems set up in the capital by firms such as BT and hotspot-specialist The Cloud make up a tenth of all Wi-Fi use in the UK and just over one per cent of the total worldwide.

This puts it far ahead of second-placed cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco on 0.3 per cent, according to the Wi-Fi Hotspot Index, compiled by iPass, a provider of enterprise mobility services.

Business areas such as the City or Canary Wharf have the highest concentration of Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or large financial firms to stay in touch with the vagaries of the markets even when away from the office using wireless broadband and VoIP telephony.

"The results indicate that business demand for Wi-Fi hotspots has grown from a novelty to a mainstream need," said Joel Wachtler, vice president of marketing and strategy for iPass.

"We are also seeing that use of hotspots is a global phenomenon, with the standard for growth being set in European and Asian countries."

The index showed worldwide Wi-Fi use has grown by two-thirds since the end of last year, driving the expansion of VoIP solutions for business communications as it becomes easier for workers to access their employer's secure hosted PBX or virtual private network away from their desk.