Wifi Revolution

A research report released by In-Stat attributes availability of free WiFi (News - Alert) to people’s choice of venues. The survey got varied responses from the respondents; however, most were in favor of Wifi hotspots.

According to In-Stat's research, close to 66 percent of the respondents said that free WiFi service influences their choice in venue. Another 31 percent pointed out that free access may influence their choice, however, just 5 percent said that it would have no influence over their choice of venue.

"Our research shows that while revenue may not always be directly gleaned from the hotspot offering, free WiFi has a significant value in bringing customers to a venue," said Amy Cravens, market analyst. "It's no wonder then that over 150 thousand café/retail venues have now deployed WiFi hotspots, although not all of these are free. That's in addition to the tens of thousands of travel-related installations (hotels, airports, in-flight) worldwide." 

Upon going through the report of the research, some remarkable findings are as follows:

The total worldwide hotspot market size will increase to 319,200 venues by year-end.

Worldwide annual hotspot connects, or sessions, will reach over 2 billion by the end of 2010 with annual hotspot connects is projected to grow to over 11 billion by 2014.

Asia/Pacific will have about one quarter of the worldwide hotspot venues over the forecast period.

By 2012, handhelds will be considered as accounting for half of hotspot connects. 

The In-Stat (News - Alert) research targeted many public places such as airports, cafés/restaurants/bars, convention centers, hotels, retail, marinas, and outdoor hospitality and public areas to assess the worldwide market for public WiFi access.

Worldwide market potential, usage, business models and competitive analysis for the hotspot market were incorporated into the search.

Worldwide venue forecasts were classified into region and type of venue. Worldwide usage forecasts were segmented by business versus consumer, and access device. Equipment forecasts include a WiFi AP forecast. All forecasts provided aggregate and annual deployment numbers and were segmented by region and venue type.

Rahul Arora is a TMCnet contributor. He has worked as an editor and freelance writer for several reputed organizations in India. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf