THE dream of free public wireless internet has found a new business model - flashing advertising at coffee drinkers.

The newly launched CafeScreen business has placed big digital screens in 25 cafes in Melbourne and Sydney.

The screens carry paid advertising, as well as information and entertainment. But they also come with free high-speed wi-fi internet access for the nearby caffeine quaffers.

The system, hardware and internet access are free to cafe owners as well. In addition, they receive a share of the advertising revenue from ads featured on the screens.

"We're offering a new revenue source for what is otherwise a very mature business," the company's founder and chief executive, Ruwan Weerasooriya, says.

The concept grew from cafe owners' desire to provide a distraction to customers waiting up to five minutes for their takeaway coffee in busy periods. It now includes free internet access as an bonus to dine-in customers increasingly conducting their office meetings, desk research and sundry work assignments on a laptop or PDA over a cuppa.

Mr Weerasooriya says cafes are the new meeting and study rooms where people expect to be connected.

"It's a natural extension as networks become ubiquitous and content digitised," he says.

Many chain coffee shops and fast-food outlets already offer paid internet access via their own network or act as ISP hot spots across metropolitan areas.

In Adelaide, people have free internet access in the central business district through a city-sponsored wi-fi network built by Internode. A similar NSW Government-sponsored network has been promised for Sydney's CBD and regional centres but is still on the drawing board.

But large-scale municipal wi-fi plans are having mixed success. In the US, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, St Louis and other cities have put proposed wi-fi networks on hold - or scrapped them altogether - amid debates over funding, ownership and infrastructure.

In Britain this month, British Telecom announced it would equip 2 million subscribers' broadband routers with software from Spanish company Fon Technology that would enable them to share their connection with other "Foneros" within wireless range.

BT said it hoped subscribers would take advantage of the free offer and make wi-fi available in many suburban areas

Also in Britain, McDonald's announced a roll-out of free wi-fi service across its 1200 British outlets. The fast-food company already has the free scheme in 8000 of its 13,000 outlets in the US.

However, CafeScreen aims to allow any outlet - not just a multinational with cash to burn - the ability to provide such a service.

The first Sydney location opened in Sydney Town Hall this month. Users do not need to buy food or drinks to obtain a password to browse, check emails or download content. Indeed, they don't need to be patrons at all if they are in range of the wi-fi signal.

Internet access is limited to cafe operating hours but download limits do not yet apply.

The technology includes one or two LCD screens at each location, plus a Linux-based media player connected to a dedicated digital subscriber line (DSL) and an off-the-shelf wireless router. The router and media player are independent of the screen and can be housed separately from it. The router caters for six to 10 users simultaneously without loss of speed, Mr Weerasooriya says.

The media player receives digital content from the company six times a day with provision for real-time updates. It can continue to operate offline.

News, sport, weather and horoscope content is supplied via a deal with Australian Associated Press and advertising can be tailored to local audiences.

Mr Weerasooriya now hopes to convince advertisers and media buyers in ad agencies the novel medium is ideal to reach elusive, time-poor, affluent coffee drinkers near their workplace.

"We know it's a time-poor audience that is hard to reach, does most of their business online and doesn't really read a lot of newspapers and magazines. But they are cashed up, have purchase power and influence over other people's purchases. We can overlay the (office blocks) footprints so if advertisers want to reach, say, legal professionals or investment bankers, we can deliver," he says. Market data has been obtained through Roy Morgan Research and interviews with cafe operators.

Mr Weerasooriya was previously a partner in Melbourne's TouchTaxi start-up, now part of Digital Spark. It operates advertising and information screens on the headrests of taxis.

He expects CafeScreen to sign up its first advertisers later this year and is bankrolling the investment until it begins to turn a profit.

He's aiming for 50 independent venues by December.

Competition from out-of-home signage giants such as Eye Corp and shopping centre digital screen suppliers such as Outpost TV does not scare him.

"We're only after white-collar CBD professionals. Westfield and other large suburban (shopping centres) where these companies are is not our model. They are very big players and very good at what they do, but it takes a small start-up to carve a niche for themselves."

LINKS

:: www.cafescreen.com

:: www.digitalspark.com.au