Megabeam`s pan-European wireless Internet network has expanded again - this
time with a deal to install the service for selected Holiday Inn and Crowne
Plaza hotels across south east England.

The agreement is with BDL Hotels, a fast-growing hospitality franchise
company that develops and operates international hotel brands.

Under the deal, Megabeam

will install hotspots at BDL Hotels` properties
including Holiday Inn London - Heathrow, the Express at London Luton
Airport, Holiday Inn Docklands and the Crowne Plaza, Marlow on Thames.

The hotels are all located near major airports and motorways, making them
highly popular with business travellers who have need for high speed and
easy access to their corporate networks, email and the Internet.

With its large number of signed premier hotspots at many key airports,
hotels and rail stations across the continent, Megabeam is primed to be the
pan-European wireless high speed Internet access provider of choice.

 

Most of the new hotspots will be live by early New Year, and this latest
deal reinforces Megabeam`s lead in deploying wireless networks in airports,
hotels, rail stations and conference centres for business travellers.

Megabeam`s service boasts transfer rates up to 11Mbps and operates at up to
100 times the speed of the fastest dial-up modem, Blackberry or GPRS device.

To access the system, business travellers simply switch on their wireless
Internet enabled laptop computer or personal digital assistant (PDA).

The device automatically finds the Megabeam service and travellers then
follow a few on-screen instructions. From the time they launch their
browser, they can be online within seconds.

 

Access packages range from two hours` access for just EUR 7.5 (approx
£4.80), to annual subscriptions with an introductory offer of two years for
the price of one. It is also possible for travellers to buy daily, weekly
and monthly subscriptions.

Megabeam already has scores of hotspots in key European business centres,
including London, Milan, Rome, Munich, Zurich and Amsterdam. The service
will soon be extended to 12 major airports and 15 railway stations across
Britain.

 

“We are delighted that another major hotel operator has chosen to install
the Megabeam service,” said Ryan Jarvis, CEO, Megabeam.

 

“Every forecast shows that high speed, wireless Internet access will be in
huge demand in the coming years. BDL Hotels will be able to exploit a first
mover advantage in attracting corporate guests.

“For example, business travellers are more likely to stay at a hotel with a
high-speed, wireless communications service rather than one in which they
must deal with the inconvenience of cables, analogue or digital lines and
dial-up modems.
“Corporate travel policies will also favour hotels that provide employees
with low and fixed-cost access to their email and internal company
networks.”
BDL`s Finance Director Stuart McCaffer explained “We have excellent meeting
and conference facilities at each of our locations, however many blue chip
global clients are now seeking this type of service in public areas and we
found Megabeam to be easy to deal with and fast to react"Megabeam`s high-speed wireless service, initially based on 802.11b
technology operating in the 2.4GHz band, has been three years in the making
with detailed studies and pilots having been undertaken across Europe.

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