T-Mobile is to roll out Wi-Fi access within Borders bookshops throughout the UK, the company said today.

The US chain maintains some 25 Borders shops over here following its acquisition of the Books Etc. chain in the mid-1990s. Some 36 stores maintain the original Books Etc. branding.

It's the larger, Borders-branded shops that will gain T-Mobile hotspots - many of them simply because they're also home to Starbucks stores-with-stores. T-Mobile is also the coffee chain's Wi-Fi partner, so there's a 'two birds with one stone' aspect to the Borders deal.

T-Mobile currently maintains around 3500 hotspots throughout the UK and continental Europe, in addition to the 4800-odd sites it runs in the US. This week, Joe Sims, the company's US hotspot chief, said (http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004183.html) the company will have over 10,000 hotspots worldwide by the end of the year, with around 6000 in the US and over 4000 in Europe. ®

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