The popularity of Wi-Fi knows no end. Some describe it as the 'true 4G standard'. This has an intuitive logic: we want to be rid of cords and over the long term everything will be wireless; mobile networks are increasingly shared by too many subscribers; and fibre needs to be brought as close as possible to every home, business and other location. In short, Wi-Fi forms the unmissable link between fibre (which is expensive to roll out to every location) and mobile (a 'shared' netwerk that potentially is used by too many subscribers).
It's not surprising then that Wi-Fi has a growing number of applications:
• Draadloos Groningen, a muniwifi project, is attempting a restart.
• A consortium of Orange France, the SNCF, Eutelsat, Alsthom and Capgemini are deploying wireless internet in TGVs, at speeds up to 320kph. Wi-Fi is offered on-board, with backhaul via satellite.
• BT has developed an iPad app allowing broadband subscribers free access to 2 million British hotspots.
It's also going well in a corporate sense:
• Boingo Wireless, which manages more 200,000 hotspots worldwide, is planning a stockmarket listing.
• BSkyB is reportedly planning a bid to acquire The Cloud, which operates 22,000 hotspots in Europe.
The question remains how to earn money with the service. BT is going in a clear direction, in line with companies such as New York's Cablevision and Telenet (which has dropped plans to participate in the Belgian spectrum auction in order to focus on cable and Wi-Fi): free hotspot access for broadband subscribers. The necessity of ubiquitous access will only increase in the coming years, as underlined by the TGV initiative. In the race for subscribers there is still room for creating a distinctive asset, as there can never be enough hotspots. If you can collect revenues from it, all the better, but the subscriber won't see it that way: they want to pay just once for access. This makes hotspot access a classic loss leader, that indirectly increases the value of a broadband subscription.
