A new report predicts there will be rapid growth in the global market for
Wi-Fi hot spots, or private locations around the world to link to public
wireless networks.
Allied Business Intelligence, based in Oyster Bay, N.Y., says in its new
report on Wi-Fi that hot spots will grow from their current level of 28,000
locations to more than 200,000 within five years.
ABI says that while North America is home to more than 12,400 hot spots, the
Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a faster rate in the next few
years. The study focuses on commercial hot spots, inside coffee shops, fast
food restaurants, airports, railroad terminals and other establishments.
“For the Wi-Fi market to grow over the next few years, several things have
to happen. For one, roaming agreements between operators need to happen.
Secondly, there has to be a clear single message to consumers on the value
of Wi-Fi,” says Tim Shelton, director of wireless research for ABI.
“The greatest opportunity could potentially be with the cellular providers,
because it will help them drive consumers to the data usage model,” says
Shelton, adding that T-Mobile is currently the biggest operator of hot spots
around North America, other operators include Wayport, and a host of smaller
players.
Shelton said one private company making a major push into the Wi-Fi market
is Boingo. “They are not strictly an operator, but more of an aggregator.
They don’t own the actual network, but they enter to roaming agreements to
offer Wi-Fi based services.”
And beyond wireless network service providers, if the Wi-Fi hot spot market
grows, there will be other beneficiaries.
“The hot spot market certainly will provide opportunities for access point
hardware manufacturers and other backend solutions,” Shelton said.
Despite the rosy market outlook, ABI’s Shelton does say that there are
concerns about hackers being able to violate the integrity of Wi-Fi-based
wireless networks.
“While there’s no question there will be growth, wireless security remains a
must for the credibility of the hot spot market,” says Shelton.
Shelton expects that hotel chains, restaurant franchises and other national
retail chains will potentially use hot spot technology “to drive customers
to their doors and to capture a competitive advantage by offering an
innovative wireless service.”
Starbucks , McDonald’s
and Borders
are three national chains which have gotten behind the wireless
technology by putting Wi-Fi hot spots inside their commercial
establishments.
Shelton said these companies believe it will provide added-value to their
customers and predicts revenue generated from hot spot technology will rise
from $59 million this year to $3.1 billion in 2008. Users pay either an
hourly, daily or monthly fee to access Wi-Fi networks.
“Some of the issues facing the hotspot industry range from interoperability
between hotspot locations to the need for operators and aggregators to
acquire more users,” Shelton writes in his report.
ABI’s report is called “Wi-Fi Public Hotspots: Business Case Analysis
through Deployment and Subscriber Forecasts.”
