Skype, Google join backers for Wi-Fi sharing startup


A wireless communications start-up in Spain that is partly a grass-roots social movement seeking to encourage users to share Internet access with their neighbours is set to announce on Monday $21.7 million in funding from big name backers, such as Skype Technologies and Google.


Fon Technology SL said it has secured 18 million euros in initial financing from Skype, the popular Web-based calling company now owned by eBay, Google, and venture capital firms Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

These backers offer legitimacy for Madrid-based Fon, whose goal is to create a block-by-block network of shared wireless links around the globe, by turning users of local Wi-Fi access into an army of “foneros,” or people sharing wireless access.

Fon is a wireless incarnation of peer-to-peer technology that was first made popular — and controversial — by the pioneering online music-sharing service, Napster.

As the company’s name implies, Fon would allow users of not just laptops, but also mobile phones or the latest portable gaming devices — anything with a built-in Wi-Fi link — to share wireless connections offered by other Fon users.

Does this make the Telcos who will oppose this — “antifoneros”?

Posted: Mon - February 6, 2006 at 08:20 AM