Orange is to expand its French Wi-Fi hotspot service by 1,500 sites, taking its total to 4500 locations by the end of the year.

The growth comes on the back of deals signed with Air France to equip the airlines' airport business lounges with wireless Internet access, and to provide a similar service to Accor hotel guests.

The mobile operator also has hotspot deals with Virgin, France Telecom and Club Med, all contributing to its current 3,000-hotspot tally.

Orange France began offering Wi-Fi Services in April and provides pre-pay access and per-minute billing for Orange customers: users send a text message to receive a password - their phone number becomes their username. They pay €0.17 per minute, invoiced to their monthly bill. Pre-pay passes are available for two hours, four hours and one day, priced at €10, 30 and 30, respectively. The four-hour pass may seems poor value, but it is valid for a month, unlike the 24-hour pass. ®

Related stories

World warms to municipal Wi-Fi (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/25/world_warms_to_wi_fi/)
Orange squashes SPV smartphone (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/08/orange_spv_c500/)
Orange launches own-brand wireless PDA (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/05/orange_launches_ownbrand_wireless_pda/)
Orange hits 50m subscriber mark (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/29/orange_q1_2004/)
Orange punters face more mobile misery (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/11/orange_number_misery/)
Orange kicks off 3G trials in UK and France (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/24/orange_kicks_off_3g_trials/)
Orange punts mobile walkie talkie service (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/13/orange_punts_mobile_walkie_talkie/)
Vodafone promises multi-network moves (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/09/vodafone_wifi_3g/)