iiNet signs Wi-Fi access deal with NZ's Tomizone

Perth-based internet service provider iiNet has signed a deal with New Zealand-based Tomizone, giving its customers free Wi-Fi access to Tomizone Hotspots around the world, as well as allowing users to set up their own.

The full text of an iiNet announcement is pasted below

17th August 2007 - iiNet Limited (ASX:IIN) announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Tomizone, the global company offering innovative Wi-Fi Hotspot services for high-speed wireless internet access.

The agreement means that iiNet customers will have free Wi-Fi access to Tomizone Hotspots anywhere around the world.

One of the unique aspects of this arrangement is that broadband customers will be able to set up their own Wi-Fi Hotspot by connecting a Tomizone-enabled Wi-Fi device to their broadband connection to securely share access to the internet. The Hotspot owner can then generate income from other users who pay a very low fee to access the Internet. Half of any usage revenue earned will be distributed to the iiNet customers who operate a Tomizone.

Greg Bader, CTO of iiNet explained "We see this as a way of extending an iiNet customer's home broadband connection. When traveling, customers will simply 'login' with their iiNet credentials and away they go. The flip side is that there are also opportunities for customers to actually start generating income from their broadband connections", says Bader, "We will be working with Tomizone to deploy our own hotspots in major population areas, which also gives business operators a simple solution for providing Wi-Fi access to customers."

Tomizone is a simple Wi-Fi Hotspot solution with its free hotspot-enabling firmware embedded in selected Wi-Fi routers. When Tomizone is activated on the Wi-Fi router, the Tomizone service authenticates customers' access, regulates usage, and collects payments. It distributes 50% revenue share to the Hotspot owner. The Hotspot owner could also choose to offer free access to friends using a "friends list" built in to the software.

"Wi-Fi Hotspot ubiquity is a problem globally. To address this shortcoming, people will be able to set up a Tomizone Hotspot and contribute to the growth of what could become one of the largest Wi-Fi networks in Australia. iiNet, as an innovative market leader, recognises that Wi-Fi Hotspots are a very complementary and attractive way to keep people connected as they move around." says Tomizone's CEO Steve Simms. "Whilst Tomizone is a new
company, we already have deployments with leading chain stores in New Zealand and are in negotiation with key carriers in a number of other countries", added Simms

"We look forward to a time where our customers can use Wi-Fi wherever they need it, the rollout is somewhat self fulfilling - the more people use it, the more it will expand. Our initial targets will be the capital cities but there is no reason why this cannot extend to non-metro areas", continued Bader

iiNet customers will be given a free data allocation of 100Mb per month, if they exceed this allocation, then they will be able to "top up" their plan. "Our intention with this is simple, we want our customers to have free Wi-Fi access when they are travelling, the quota will be constantly reviewed - if it's viable to increase it, we will. We have already started work on integrating the systems and trials are underway, we hope to have our first public Hotspots operational in November", added Bader