More than Just Laptops - Worldwide Hotspots are Impacted by Other Mobile Devices

Public Internet access via Wi-Fi has become very common place. Most laptop computers today come embedded with Wi-Fi. Other consumer electronic devices, such as cellphones and handheld gaming devices are also adding Wi-Fi as a product features. For this research, In-Stat treats municipal networks as a sub segment of the hotspot market.

Some of In-Stat' s key 2007 findings about hotspots are as follows:

• Of those respondents to our survey who have used a hotspot in the past, over half have used it for both work and personal reasons.
• Increased interest in using non-laptop devices at hotspots.
• One of the big drawbacks to muni-network services is that the network has limited coverage indoors, where people use hotspots the most.
• Generating revenue from hotspot access fees remains challenging as many users expect free access.
• In-Stat forecasts North American service revenues will start to decline in 2010 due to the deployment of WiMAX and the increased availability of free locations.
• Outside of North America, while revenues will not decline, revenue growth rates will slow due to same reasons as found in North America.
• Service providers need to do a better job marketing their services to businesses for corporate travelers.
• While revenue growth remains limited, the number of deployments will grow. This includes both free and fee-based locations. The municipal networks included in the forecasts are limited to those that provide public Internet access.

Figure 1 shows In-Stat' s forecast for worldwide hotspot deployments for 2006 through 2011. During that time, In-Stat forecasts the number of deployments will grow from around 150,000 in 2006 to well over 200,000 by the end of 2011.

• Service providers are reporting an increased number of sessions originating from devices other than laptops.
• Users still expect free access.
• WiMAX, and the abundance of free access, will limit future revenue growth.