Friday-Saturday April 07-08, 2006 |
News
Airborne gets Starbucks for WiFi
Airborne Access, the country's largest WiFi provider, has signed up with Rustan Coffee, the Philippine licensee of Starbucks Coffee, to set up wireless internet access in all its outlets in Metro Manila, Cebu,
WiFi or 801.11b is a technology that lets users surf the internet wirelessly through access points called hotspots, using notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other portable devices.
The roll-out, which will be done in stages, will cover all existing 94 outlets of Starbucks in the four areas, including its new outlets in the pipeline. "We are quite happy that Starbucks has chosen Airborne Access to deploy Wi-Fi in their stores. When you think about it, it is the consumers who benefit the most. With their Wi-Fi-enabled laptops or PDAs in tow, they can get some serious work done while enjoying their favorite brew in one of over 300 Airborne Access hotspots nationwide," said Jay Fajardo, Airborne Access chief executive, in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.
Enabling coffee shops with wireless access has been a growing trend in the past few years, designed to add value to the coffee shop's service offer.
Starbucks -- selected in Fortune magazine's 100 Best Places to Work For 2006 -- is the latest coffee chain that joins Airborne's list of partner coffee shops which includes Figaro and Seattle's Best Coffee, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and UCC Coffee.
Airborne Access is now majority-owned by ePLDT -- the information technology arm of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. -- after it raised its stake in Airborne to 51% from 1.9% in October for P20 million.
It provides wireless broadband internet access in public locations such as airports, malls, coffee shops, and restaurants. Now it has about 300 WiFi hotspots in the country covering 36 cities and 13 provinces. -- Maricel E. Estavillo
http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=040706d
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