Last week I caught up with Christian Gunning from Boingo. Having seen that Boingo will be the sole public WiFi provider at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports in the UK, I was keen to understand Boingo's plans for the UK.
Boingo provides access to approximately 132,000 WiFi hotspots across 171 networks in 103 countries. Boingo offers a range of tariff options in both US$ and £, including hour and day airport passes - but the tariff that caught my eye was Boingo Mobile's £3.95 per month for unlimited smartphone access worldwide. You can't use your laptop on this tariff but for iPhone, iPad or other handset access it's looks great value. Also in the handset space, the US iPhone and iPad App Store has 1 hour access available for $1.99, for users that don't want to commit to a monthly account. This is coming to the UK App Store shortly.The UK airport coverage brings Boingo's overall airport coverage to 58 airports across the US & UK. Since the iPhone launched, non laptop devices have gone from less than 1% to 50% of devices on the Boingo network, with the iPhone and the iPad being the top devices. Following the airport deal, the UK footprint is due for a big expansion later this year.
