Starbucks pushes public-access Wi-Fi service in the U.K.

Computerworld - LOS ANGELES -- Starbucks Corp. plans to take its public-access Wi-Fi act to Europe and will expand its wireless LAN service in the U.K. this year from two pilot locations to 50 stores, according to Ann Saunders, vice president of the company's Starbucks Interactive unit.
Saunders, speaking here at the annual Gartner Inc. enterprise wireless conference, said Starbucks is also eyeing the Asian market for Wi-Fi -- especially in Japan, where the company operates 400 outlets -- although it has no launch plans at this time. The Seattle-based company currently offers public-access Wi-Fi service at 2,000 North American coffee shops on a per-session or subscription basis (see story) and operates a total of 800 coffee shops outside of North America.
Starbucks plans to use T-Mobile International AG, a division of Deutsche Telekom AG in Bonn, as its Wi-Fi network partner in Europe, just as it does in the U.S., Saunders said.
London-based British Telecommunications PLC detailed its rollout of public-access Wi-Fi services last month in heavily trafficked locations such as airports, hotels, highway service-station restaurants and coffee shops run by Costa Coffee. BT has also signed up a number of enterprise customers for a trial of its service, including the British Broadcasting Corp. and the U.K.-based divisions of General Electric Capital Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
Despite the head start by BT, Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said he believes Starbucks will face little competition in the U.K. Public-access Wi-Fi services are location-based, and "Starbucks owns the real estate," he said.
Although Saunders declined to discuss revenue from the Starbucks Wi-Fi service or to detail the company's percentage of revenues from the T-Mobile service, she did say it has boosted store traffic, especially in non-prime-time hours. And, she said, the Wi-Fi service has enhanced customer satisfaction.
Installation of the Wi-Fi equipment, provided by Hewlett-Packard Co., is relatively easy, Saunders said. But training about 50,000 store employees on Wi-Fi technology was more difficult.
The public-access Wi-Fi market has boomed since Starbucks announced its public-access plans in 2001, with well-financed partners including Cometa Networks Inc. in Basking Ridge, N.J. Backed by AT&T Corp., IBM and Intel Corp., Cometa has ambitious plans to deploy a nationwide public-access network (see story). Saunders welcomed the competition, saying it would help expand the number of Wi-Fi public-access points and overall use, something that in turn will help Starbucks.