Wireless access due at U.K. rail stations

Laptop and PDA users in the United Kingdom will soon be offered wireless high-speed Internet access at 15 of Britain's major railway stations. Megabeam, a European provider of wireless Internet service, said Monday it has reached an agreement with Railtrack, which owns the country's railway infrastructure, to install Wi-Fi hot spots at nine London terminals and six regional stations. The service will target business customers who need access to corporate information and the Internet while traveling in the region. It follows a trial at Paddington station, in which Megabeam worked with Intel to build and test a hot spot based on Wi-Fi, also known as 802.11b networking.

"We have witnessed significant demand from business travelers who need fast, convenient and secure access to their corporate network or Internet," Ryan Jarvis, chief executive of Megabeam, said in a statement. "This agreement with Railtrack reflects our progress in establishing a pan-European infrastructure that supports the business traveler whether they travel by train or plane."

ZDNet U.K.'s Graeme Wearden reported from London.

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