FON signs up France's SFR for fresh broadband-sharing deal
Wi-fi sharing service FON has inked a deal with French telco SFR.
FON customers share part of their broadband capacity with other users for free in return for the chance to borrow a cup of others' wi-fi when they need it — when travelling for example. FON claims it has eight million hotspots available in 100 countries.
FON has now inked a deal with SFR, which will see its ADSL and fibre broadband customers automatically signed up for the service. While the two companies have been partners for a while now (in 2006 FON struck a deal with ISP Neuf Cegetel, later bought by SFR), previously SFR customers would need to opt-in to use the service.
Now those that don't want to share their wi-fi will specifically have to opt out or find their broadband up for grabs by fellow users.
SFR, France's second biggest ISP with around one-fifth of the market, has more than five million broadband subscribers.
SFR is the fourth European ISP that FON has signed a deal with this year: as well as Croatia's Hrvatski Telekom and Dutch incumbent KPN, FON snared Germany's biggest telco Deutsche Telekom. Their joint wi-fi offering, branded WLAN TO GO, will go live this summer.
While FON has partnerships with ISPs in Brazil and Japan, its largest presence is in Europe, where it has partnerships with the likes of BT in the UK and Belgacom in Belgium.
FON says it expects to announce more ISP details over this year.