BT is rebranding its BT Fon and BT Openzone WiFi services, bringing them together under a single new brand of ‘BT Wi-fi’.

The company is the Official Communications Services Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, managing half a million public hotspots across London including nine Olympic venues.

BT says it’s on track to have 500,000 WiFi hotspots working across London in time for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including exclusive WiFi service across the Olympic Park in East London. The figure is a combination of commercial-standard hotspots plus thousands of independent businesses and homes that have joined the BT FON community.

Nine Olympic venues including the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, Velodrome and all public areas of the Olympic Park will be served by a new network of nearly 1,000 WiFi access points.

New research commissioned by BT shows that over 80% of IT managers think enterprises with a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy have a competitive advantage over other organisations.

It’s a strong endorsement for allowing employees to use their own laptops, tablets and smartphones to carry out their employer’s work.

Mark Bridge writes:

I don’t mind paying for a spot of WiFi when I need it. Admittedly I’d prefer to find a coffee shop with a free hotspot but I’ll pay if I really need a connection. Not just here in the UK but abroad too.

Everything Everywhere and BT Wholesale have announced an extension to their trial of 4G LTE mobile broadband in Cornwall.

The trial, which has been running in the area around St. Newlyn East in Cornwall since October 2011, has been given Ofcom approval to continue until the end of June 2012.