CANARY WHARF will steal a march on the Square Mile, its rival London business centre, after agreeing a deal that will give anybody who visits the Docklands development wireless internet access at any point on the 97-acre estate.

The property company behind Canary Wharf, which is home to a string of top banks, including HSBC and Morgan Stanley, is installing equipment that will enable thousands of desk-bound workers to take their work outside, using high-speed wireless technology to access the internet from any office, outside space or bar on the development.

Developers are using WiFi technology to create a web of “hotspots” that will cover the whole development.

The move, which is set for completion at the end of next month, should boost the attractiveness of a Canary Wharf office against the alternative in the City of London. Technology experts say that a similar network could be set up in the City, but the dispersal of land ownership would make it a complex task to co-ordinate.

WiFi networks are commonly run by individual service providers, such as BT. This project is different in that users will be able to log in via a string of service providers.

Canary Wharf will run the service in conjunction with The Cloud, a London-based network developer. The roll-out at Canary Wharf is the largest European example of a business district setting up its own public WiFi network.

About 75,000 people work in Canary Wharf, with thousands more visiting the site every day. As well as providing internet access in public areas, tenants will be able to use the network for guests who cannot be given access to their own corporate network for security reasons.

It is expected that most users will access the network using laptop computers, although it will also be possible to use the network with electronic organisers, mobile phones containing WiFi cards and even gaming machines such as Sony’s PSP.

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