BT today unveiled a new broadband package that gives businesses a free public Wi-Fi hotspot that they can offer to visitors on a paid-for or free basis.
The new BT Business Total Broadband hub provides the hotspot as standard. Companies then need to purchase BT OpenZone vouchers, which they can then pass onto their customers for a fee if they want to create a new revenue stream.
BT reckons the new service will prove particularly appealing to businesses such as cafes, dentists, doctors, hotels and restaurants, as these are all places where people may be keen to make better use of historical downtime.
"Offering Wi-Fi adds value and is good customer service," said Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business, in a statement. "It can also allow businesses to make incremental revenue. The service is helping our customers stay online and keep productive during these times."
Some 20,000 existing BT customers have already had their equipment updated to offer the service, with a further 200,000 upgrades planned in the next few months, according to BT. If companies don't want to make use of the hotspot, they can switch it off using the Hub Manager on their desktops.
