Users don’t need to register for the service but are prompted to accept the terms and conditions to begin browsing.The two-month trial will be conducted with public Wi-Fi provider Spectrum Initiative and will run across 26 hotspots in areas including Oxford Street, Bloomsbury and Bayswater.

The trial is intended to assess the demand for free Wi-Fi access, including the necessary bandwidth, ahead of a more comprehensive roll out across the capital in 2012.

Nokia claimed the trial will be used to determine prime positions for future hotspots and assess the browsing behaviour of consumers while on the move.  

The manufacturer is sponsoring the pilot as part of its Amazing Everyday campaign, aimed at promoting its Lumia smartphone series (pictured), according to John Nichols, Nokia’s head of marketing.

Simon Alberga, Spectrum Interactive’s executive chairman, said, “While 4G mobile access is firmly on the horizon, Wi-Fi coverage currently fills a much needed niche between 3G mobile internet and home broadband.

“Tablets and mobile phones are capable of incredibly high-end browsing experiences now, but Wi-Fi access is often a requirement to support the tasks many of us want to be able to do on the move”.

Nokia is planning similar initiatives across the UK, and further afield, with location-based advertising company Selective Media, according to its co-founder Chris Bull.

Meanwhile, mobile operator Three has announced the pending launch of a device that effectively makes USB dongles into “Wi-Fi hubs”.

The gadget, a ZTE MF10 Dongle Adapter, connects to a user’s laptop and converts existing mobile broadband dongles and lets people to share their 3G connection via Wi-Fi at home.

The announcement came a day after a post on the official Three blog maintained that 97% of traffic on its network was generated by data usage. “It’s even more amazing when you know that since June last year and September this year (just 14 months) we’ve seen a 427% increase in data usage on Three for smartphone customers,” read the post.