London-based Eyetease Limited says it’s received approval from Transport for London to introduce a new WiFi service in London black cabs. The service, which is called CabWiFi, will be free to passengers for 15 minutes after they’ve watched a 15-second advertisement. Drivers will be able to use the service via their own password.
Rollout plans aren’t yet finalised, although Eyetease is currently in discussions with several major consumer brands to sponsor the CabWifi network from early next year.
Richard Corbett, founder and CEO of Eyetease, said “This is really great news for London. With dwell times averaging 15 minutes in the back of a taxi, what better way to pass the time than to use your laptop, tablet, book reader or phone with guilt free internet access. Tourists and business travellers can now access their emails, talk on Skype or surf the web without the fear of being hit with high data roaming charges when they return home!”
CabWiFi will use 3G and 4G mobile connectivity to carry its traffic.
Earlier this year, London minicab service greentomatocars installed free WiFi in all its vehicles.