BT has teamed up with Barclays to make it the first major UK high street bank to offer free wi-fi access for its customers in branches nationwide.
The wi-fi hotspots will be rolled-out across 1,500 of Barclays UK branches. Customers will be able to use any wireless-enabled PC, tablet or smartphone to connect to the internet, download its mobile banking apps including the Pingit e-payment service, access the Barclays website and other internet sites often faster than if they were using 3G.
Earlier this year, BT’s Youbiquity financial sector research revealed that free in-store wi-fi access was high on the most-wanted list for consumers in the UK, Germany, Spain and US with 41% of the banking customers who took part saying free wi-fi would greatly improve their in-branch experience.
Barclays Retail and Business Banking CEO Ashok Vaswani said: “We’ve been listening to our customers about how w
e can make banking easier for them, and they tell us they like the idea of mobile banking but would often value being shown how it works. We are always keen to show our customers how easy our mobile apps are to use, so we are now rolling out free Wi-fi across our Barclays branches, and our front line staff say this will help them give product demos using our customers own mobiles and tablets. We hope by providing this free service our customers will be able to instantly download and use all our mobile apps, and we are on hand to show them how.”
Luis Alvarez, CEO, BT Global Services said: “Whether it’s in the branch or through remote channels such as mobile banking, the technology now exists for organisations to connect their customers to the right people and the right information in a seamless, cost-effective way. It’s no secret that banks are facing some of the toughest challenges of any sector, so it’s great to see forward thinking companies like Barclays prioritising their investments, so they can deliver great service for their customers as well as the bottom line. BT is delighted to be helping them provide the state-of-the-art, multi-channel service experience that their customers demand.”
The project has already begun following initial trials by BT in three Barclays branches. BT has successfully rolled out the technology to more than half of the 1,500 branches, with these now being available for customer use. The remaining branches will go live with the service this month and next month.
The technology will be provided and managed by BT as a ’white label’ service. This means it will be visible to the public in branches as ‘BarclaysFreeWifi’. In order to initially connect to the service, customers only have to click to accept the T&C’s
