The Consumer Salon

ATM provider Cashbox is considering providing WiFi free of charge to its customers within the next five years. Openzone will be the WiFi service provider, and customers will be able to access the internet conveniently in the vicinity of the ATM booths.

At the moment, Cashbox has 2,500 ATMs all over the UK, and users are charged for cash transactions on their machines. Since Cashbox has ATMs in some areas that do not have many other high street banks, the objective of providing WiFi is to help make available 3g internet access in regions that are still not well developed.

As part of a trial run, only ten Cashbox ATMs will be made WiFi hotspots by Openzone. If the idea is successful, there are plans to upgrade many more ATMs. Tiger Tiger branches in big cities like London and Glasgow will be the first locations which will have WiFi-equipped Cashbox booths.

Cashbox CEO, Ciaran Morton, remarked that some Cashbox ATM locations are more likely to become WiFi hotspots than others. He says that this is only the beginning, and that they intend to make this service available at as many locations as possible. As for revenue, he says that Openzone would hand over a proportion of income to Cashbox based on the number of WiFi minutes used per site.

The WiFi connection can also be used to surf the internet by users of O2 iPhone and iPass.