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The UK's largest cableco, Virgin Media, is looking to emulate Cablevision of the US and build out Wi-Fi to add a wireless element to its TV and broadband services. It said it was "actively exploring" the potential of creating a massive public Wi-Fi network.

This would go head-to-head with UK incumbent telco BT, which has also invested heavily in Wi-Fi hotspots and hotzones to provide on-the-road coverage for its broadband and triple play customers, without a mobile network. Kevin Baughan, director of technical strategy, said: "We have been inspired by what Cablevision has been able to do in New York and are actively exploring the possibility of creating a similar network here. It takes the sheer power of the cable broadband network and puts it where people need it."

Cablevision is the poster child for cableco Wi-Fi strategies, in light of its successful offerings in its New York area territory. There, it adds value to its cable bundles with free access to hotspots for subscribers, and has incurred only a fraction of the costs of rivals like Cox, which has announced plans to build its own 3G and LTE networks - plans that it may now be rethinking in favour of sticking with its Sprint MVNO deal. Other US cablecos have invested in the Clearwire joint venture, with Comcast and Time Warner adding mobile options running over WiMAX.

Virgin would build out its network by placing broadband routers in secure public locations and connecting them to its network of kerbside boxes. This would offer wireless speeds of up to 5Mbps, with access free to Virgin customers. Baughan admits the main coverage would be in urban areas of high demand, but says tens of thousands of access points would be deployed in most parts of the UK, though this would still be well behind BT Openzone, which now has two million hotspots (and promises speeds of up to 8Mbps).

Non-Virgin subscribers would be able to use the Wi-Fi networks for a fee and there are also discussions underway with local authorities, which could pay part of the roll-out cost in return for using the network for their own administrative purposes and to offer broadband to whole communities (an echo of many US municipal broadband plans, most of which have now been ended).

Steven Hartley, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, commented in a research note: "It highlights the need for fixed operators to adopt a strategy towards mobility and convergence, which moves beyond wholesale agreements. This is even more important for cable operators which have strong content assets that could be leveraged across multiple screens - if more cost effective data-centric mechanisms can be found." However, he believes an acquisition of the smallest cellco, 3 UK, would be a better option than relying on Wi-Fi alone. 3 has high ARPU and has embraced modern web services models, but suffers from a lack of scale.

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