O2 has announced plans to turn parts of London into Europe’s largest free Wi-Fi zone ahead of the Summer Olympics.

Back in the 1990s, we all wanted to avoid hotspots ("What is a hotspot not?") but O2 knows that we're all now thirsty for hotspot action and that anytime we're not connected to the web we're in danger of fading away into social network obscurity. 

With that in mind, the mobile network has come clean with its plans to get the capital connected by installing its Metro wireless network onto existing street furniture. It won't cost the council or the tax payer a penny and the network is set to extend throughout Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea.

Derek McManus, COO of O2 said: "This ground-breaking deal - the first of its kind in the UK - will see us deliver high quality connectivity across London in time for London 2012. Our longer-term aim is to expand our footprint of O2 Wi-Fi, which is open to everyone, and also intelligently enhance our services at street level, where people need the network the most.

“Our £500m annual network investment programme is focussed on integrating new layers of technology into the existing network to enable a seamless and sustained customer experience. We are driven entirely by our customers’ needs and believe that services should be delivered in the best possible way, across multiple networks and supported by different technologies.”

Work on the network will begin this month, we'll let you know if we manage to get logged on.