PARIS-France Telecom and Orange France have entered into an agreement to deploy their Wi-Fi hot spots at 900 Accor hotels, including Sofitel, Mercure, Libertel, Suitehotel, Ibis, Etap and Formule 1.
Among the 50 hotels targeted for hot-spot deployment during the first half of this year are those hosting customers for the 2003 World Athletics Championship in St. Denis, north of Paris. Accor is a co-sponsor of this event. By year-end, the companies plan to deploy hot spots at approximately 300 hotels.
Guests, whether or not they are Orange subscribers, will be able to access the network with prepaid cards purchased at the hotels’ reception desks. Orange has agreed to open roaming service to other Wi-Fi operators.
