Wi-Fi hotspot market getting white hot

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 12 November 2009 07:32

IT Industry - Strategy

Market research firm In-Stat is forecasting a revival in the Wi-Fi hot spot industry with usage in 2009 expected to be up almost 50 percent on 2008.

According to In-Stat analyst, Frank Dickson,  “A market that appeared to be languishing due to revenue shortcomings has found a renewed life force. Mobile operators have become increasingly involved in the hotspot market globally as they assess the potential of hotspots to offload wireless data traffic from overburdened 3G networks. Also, mass market adoption of Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones has significantly altered hotspot usage, with these devices accounting for the majority of access sessions in some locations.”

In-Stat estimates that there will be 245,000 hotspot locations around the world by the end of 2009, and that usage will be up 47 percent on 2008 with an estimated 1.2 billion 'connects'.

In the US, In-Stat says that AT&T is on course to experience 500 percent usage growth for 2009 over 2008, but that "Asia-Pacific will experience the greatest growth in venue deployments over the next few years, largely driven by large-scale deployments in China."

In March, New Zealand operator Tomizone said it had 2000 hotspots in China and expected the number to reach 10,000 by the end of 2009.