TMCnews Featured Article
November 18, 2011
Get Ready for 'Golden Age' of Public Wi-Fi Hotspots and Mobile VoIP
By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
"We are about to enter the golden age of public Wi-Fi with hotspot deployments set to soar.”
So says Chris Bruce, chairman of the WBA and chief executive officer of BT (News - Alert) Openzone, according to a recent post on the Telappliant blog predicting that users of mobile VoIP over the years to come “are likely to be boosted by a predicted growth in the presence of public Wi-Fi hotspots.”
According to Telappliant officials, the Wireless Broadband Alliance issued a report following a study conducted by analyst firm Informa (News - Alert) Telecoms and Media, showing what Telappliant officials call “a boom in Internet connections” expected to occur -- “the current total of 1.3 million public Wi-Fi hotspots is set to grow and will hit 5.8 million by 2015 – a rise of 350 percent.”
There’s more to it than just the public connection points for mobile VoIP users, since the research found there are also another 4.5 million community hotspots providing links to the web.
Things look particularly good if you’re in Asia, singled out by the research for a growth in connections better than elsewhere, with much of that driven by China. In fact, the report finds, China Mobile (News 
- Alert) alone is planning to create some one million public Wi-Fi points, while KDDI of Japan will increase its number from 10,000 to 100,000 in the next six months.
Visiongain (News - Alert) recently issued more research findings, noting annual revenue of $36 billion will be received by 2016 and that 180 million users of the technology will be in place by that year.
A couple weeks ago TMC (News - Alert) reported that Visiongain, a provider of intelligence reports, including a recent one “The Border Security Market 2011-2021: UAVs, UGVs & Perimeter Surveillance Systems,” found that the border security market will reach a value of $17 billion in 2011, as governments around the world continue to invest in a range of border security products designed to offer protection against a wide range of homeland security threats from combating terrorism, to controlling the movement of goods and personnel across international boundaries.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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