Westminster City Council has approved what it calls groundbreaking plans to extend wireless services and availability across the heart of London, England following its successful pilot.

The agreement will enable a wireless city environment in Westminster. It will facilitate the delivery of a more efficient world class service by the City Council to its residents, visitors and business. It will potentially allow residents to access information and pay for services online. It also could provide visitors with information on key events and attractions.

The wireless program, the most ambitious of its type, will be delivered in partnership with the Council's strategic partner Vertex Ltd. Vertex will contract with BT, Telindus and Cap Gemini and they will start building the network before Christmas.

Speaking on the announcement of the Wireless City, Councillor Colin Barrow, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council and Cabinet Member for Finance said:

"This is a significant step forward for our residents, and underpins our 'One City' vision to become the greatest city in the world. Although this will initially be in the central business and government area, it will later on be rolled out to the more residential areas.

"It will also allow Westminster Council to deliver our goals for community safety by supporting a more flexible and adaptable CCTV network.

"Many functions of the Council are carried out by employees who are out and about in the borough. Wireless will therefore allow our people like our Environmental Health Officers, to link directly to our server and deliver our services more efficiently.

"Through wireless technology, Westminster will be a better place to live and work; the Council will be more efficient, and be able to keep the streets safer."

Photo by Riccardo Cambiassi. Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 KW