Adding more weight to the argument that ‘03 is the year of Wi-Fi, Business Week picks on the European market for its possible growth (up to 66% this year) in the use of the technology.
“These numbers are drawing the attention of the Continent’s big telecoms. Until six months ago, most ‘were completely freaked out by Wi-Fi,’ says analyst Richard Dineen of telecom researcher Ovum Ltd. in London. They worried that the upstart technology would steal away customers from the 3G mobile services they’re spending billions to develop. Now, carriers realize that the two technologies are more complementary than competitive. Want to access your e-mail or corporate network from your laptop while sipping an espresso? Wi-Fi is the way to go. But if you want to quickly check a stock quote or flight schedule while riding in a cab, your mobile phone is the better option.“
There certainly is a market for 3G and Wi-Fi. I for one can not wait for a 3G mobile that allows me to check my email. However, I’d like to take my laptop places where I can surf the web for longer periods of time. Mobiles are for quick fix info. They are the 30 second ad, where the laptop is the 1 hour sitcom.
“The math is hard to resist. It typically costs less than $1,000 to deploy a hot spot that can accommodate about 10 users at once. That’s only about one-tenth the cost of providing equivalent capacity on a 3G network. End users save, too. Downloading a 20-megabyte PowerPoint presentation over 3G could take nearly 20 minutes and cost $16, while over Wi-Fi it would take about three minutes and cost just $2.50, figures telecom researcher Analysys in Cambridge, England.“
It talks a little about collaboration between providers. I can see an opportunity in all this for middle men. Brokers that will sell you a city wide service that spans several networks.
All this is provided that freenets don’t take off. In the long run a possibility with an open spectrum.
Wi-Fi: Here Come the Big Guns. Thanks to Werblog for the link.
