LONDON. O2 today announces it has secured a new five year deal to provide the free wifi available in McDonald’s UK restaurants. The partnership will see McDonald’s 1,200-strong restaurant estate switch to O2 Wifi in time for this summer’s festivities.

O2 was the first, large fixed or mobile operator to offer genuinely free, simple and fast wifi for all and McDonald’s has been a pioneer in the provision of free, mass wifi since 2007. In January 2012 the restaurant chain became the first company to gain accreditation from Mumsnet as a Family Friendly Public Wifi provider.

[library asset=2498]Supported by O2 Wifi, McDonald’s customers will be able to access a free, fast and easy-to-use service. They only need to sign-up once and can then use the simple and secure service in any McDonald’s restaurant, or any of O2’s Wifi hotspots. The new deal strengthens the existing partnership that spans both mobile and services offered through O2’s media business.

Gavin Franks, MD of O2 Wifi said: ‘A year ago we set out our ambition to transform public wifi in the UK by offering a fast and reliable public wifi connection that is genuinely free for all, no matter which mobile or broadband provider they are with. This announcement builds on the significant partnerships already secured by O2 Wifi in the past 12 months, enabling millions of people the length and breadth of the UK to access the internet for free whilst on the move.’

Mark Fabes, IT Director, McDonald’s UK said: ‘When we launched our wifi service in 2007 McDonald’s became the UK’s biggest provider of free wireless internet access. Since then usage has soared, with growing numbers of professionals making use of our restaurant wifi for business meetings and remote working, as well as families and individuals being able to use the network to check emails, shop online or keep up to date with the latest news.

‘Recent figures showed that a staggering 750,000 McDonald’s customers are logging on in our restaurants each month and we are always looking for ways to improve our customer experience. For the 3 million people we serve in our restaurants each day we believe that O2’s mobile expertise and enhanced quality of network connectivity will deliver a fast, safe and secure service for our customers to use when they visit us.’
Access to O2 Wifi hotspots is through a simple sign-up process and will be free to both O2 and non-O2 customers. All hotspots will be premium public hotspots, as opposed to using residential connections with limited bandwidth.

This is the latest in a series of new partnerships for O2 Wifi which includes leading operator of restaurants and pubs, Mitchells and Butlers; high street department store group, House of Fraser; restaurant chain, Tragus, Westminster Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. In 2012, O2 Wifi has already announced an additional 3,000 UK hotspots which it has added to its network.

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