WiFi VoIP competition to cellular about to get a lot tougher

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 09 January 2008 03:57

Opinion and Analysis

The possibility of dual mode cellular/WiFi handsets being used as VoIP handsets via public hotspots to divert revenue from cellular networks has been with us for some time, but a deal between global hotspot operator Boingo and chipmaker Broadcom is about to make this a much bigger threat. Boingo and Broadcom have announced a deal under which the Boingo WiFi client software - normally installed onto a laptop or cellphone to enable it to access Boingo hotspots - will be embedded in Broadcom's WiFi phone chipsets, the BCM1161 and BCM4318E. The Boingo client software "automatically scans for hotspots and instantly connects users to private and commercial networks, including the tens of thousands of hotspots that are part of the Boingo Roaming Network."

These chips are now being shipped to handset manufacturers and Boingo and Broadcom have demonstration units on show at CES 2008 in Las Vegas. Boingo claims to provide access to more than 100,000 hotspots worldwide: those it owns in North America and through partnerships with more than 150 hotspot operators in other countries.

This is just the latest development in a series over the past couple o years that have seen WiFi access, and particularly Boingo WiFi access, ramp up as competition to cellular telephony.

In October 2007 Boingo announced a global deal with Nokia that enables owners of supported Nokia handsets anywhere in the world to download the Boingo Mobile client software onto their handset and access any hotpot operated by Boingo or one of its roaming partners for $US7.95 per month for what Boingo says is 'unlimited high-speed Internet access'.

A year earlier an agreement between WiFi handset maker, SMC Networks, European WiFi hotspot operator, The Cloud, and Skype enabled owners of SMC's Skype-enabled handsets to place calls though any of The Cloud's 8500 hotspots throughout Europe

Back in July 2005 Skype announced a partnership Biongo to enable people using Skype on a Windows PC to make phone calls via Boingo hotspots using a customised version of the Biongo software.

From the press release announcing this latest initiative, it appears that these chipsets are designed for dedicated WiFi phones not dual-mode cellular/WiFi phones, but that development is unlikely to be long on coming.

And it's not just voice: WiFi offers much cheaper, and faster data transfer than HSDPA. At the very least development of seamless WiFi internet access from dual mode cellular/WiFi phones is likely to drive operators more towards "unlimited' data plans, if competitive pressures haven't done so by the time this becomes more widespread.

One fly in the ointment through is that most handsets are sold through cellular service providers as part of a service plan. They are hardly likely to push such dual mode handsets aggressively, or make the WiFi connectivity seamless.