Lucky Londonders to get Free WiFi from Nokia; Africa and India on horizon?

Ooh, walking home I was reading Chris Davies’ post on SlashGear that Nokia intends to deliver 1Mbps of FREEE WiFi for the people of London. Well, at designated phone kiosks anyway, operated by Spectrum Interactive.

http://www.slashgear.com/nokia-kicks-off-free-london-wifi-trial-eyes-africa-and-india-01192232/

Neat things:

• No registration required
• You don’t need to have a Nokia (well you could say it’s better if they force people into using Nokia phones, but I think it’s good to associate good feelings, such as Nokia=generous perhaps
• If goes well, 1000 kiosks will pop up
• Looks to expand to developing nations, Africa, India.  An online search suggests only about 11.5% (via internetworldstats) of Africa is connected online. I remember a BBC documentary noting that Africa has the lowest internet penetration. This graph posted by the BBC from four years ago shows at least some growth, from the humble 5%.
• Why is this good? Well the internet amongst many things is a hub for sharing and learning. Education and businesses can develop better when they are better connected.
• For most people, the first computer experience might be on a mobile. Think, Nokia’s next billion. As nice as having mobile data is, wouldn’t it be great for them not to have to rely on data prices, but they could just use free internet at pre-defined locations?
• Wasn’t Finland one of the first places to declare internet access a  legal right? I think earlier this year, the United Nations declared internet access a human right for all.

• Currently 26 concentrated at West End shopping areas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15536482

Category: Nokia