Starbucks and BT deal provides frothy hotspots

by Stevie Smith - Apr 22 2009, 16:00

With similar North American access deals and service offers already in place with the likes of AT&T and Apple iTunes, coffeehouse chain Starbucks has signed up with British telecommunications giant BT to provide its rampant caffeine-infused customers with BT Openzone hotspots.

The new deal will see BT’s Openzone service installed into around 650 Starbucks outlets across the United Kingdom and Ireland, replacing the Wi-Fi access initially offered to British coffee drinkers through T-Mobile.

“At Starbucks, we are continually looking for new ways to develop our in-store offerings for our customers,” explained Robert Teagle, EMEA IT director for Starbucks, “And this new relationship with BT provides an enhanced customer experience.”

Expected to be fully installed by the close of the summer, BT claims that its latest connectivity deal will enable around 4.6 million of its broadband customers to e-mail, surf the Net or even make free VoIP calls while stopping in at Starbucks for a frothy latte.

Further to BT’s own spread, O2 iPhone users will also have Openzone online access included in their service contracts, as will many millions of customers using iPass, Boingo and other BT Openzone roaming partners.

An existing BT Openzone roaming agreement with AT&T similarly allows mobile users to enjoy easy online access in more than 7,000 Starbucks stores across the United States.

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