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May 2003 - While the landscape of the hotspot market
has changed in terms of number and type of venue,
and the universe of providers addressing this market
include some of the top fixed-line and mobile operators,
there continues to be challenges in the hotspot
model, reports In-Stat/MDR (www.instat.com).
The high-tech market research firm finds that increasing
hotspot usage is the principle challenge to the
model, to date. While the number of hotspot venues
has increased from several hundred to tens of thousands
worldwide in the past 3 years, usage has not grown
at similar rates with connects per location, per
day remaining very low, especially in the café and
retail venues. |
 |
Factors
behind the low hotspot usage rate stem from a variety
of factors including lack of awareness, non-target venue
deployment, and incongruence between existing pricing
plans and consumer expectations. While providers have
taken steps to address some of these challenges, such
as realigning pricing plans, there continue to be challenges
ahead. Awareness of these challenges is resulting in
a very cautious approach by some potential new entrants.
Many of the fixed-line and mobile operators continue
to explore the market, with some launching trial offerings,
yet they remain hesitant to commit to a full-scale deployment.
Furthermore, perspectives on how WLAN will integrate
with 2.5/3G services also vary widely, with some providers
fully embracing WLAN and others still remaining very
skeptical and defensive. However, with a concentrated
approach to venue deployment and appropriate strategies
to incorporate hotspot access into corporate level remote
connectivity capabilities, the hotspot market, and those
players involved, will thrive.
In-Stat/MDR
has also found that:
-
While
new players are hesitantly testing the waters, a
new wave of hotspot deployments, the wholesale model,
is emerging to again reshape the hotspot market.
Initiatives, such as Cometa in North America, and
the Cloud in the UK, anticipate massive hotspot
rollouts that promise to dwarf existing provider
footprint.
-
While
there are a variety of potential challenges for
the hotspot market that continue to lurk on the
horizon, there are also numerous encouraging developments.
Increased familiarity with, and use of, WLAN, availability
of WLAN enabled laptops, and discussion and standardization
forums will all help promote use of hotspots. The
worldwide, for-fee hotspot market will grow from
12,235 locations worldwide in 2002 to 145,417 locations
worldwide in 2007.
-
Despite
the concern over the sustainability of café venues,
these continue to account for the vast majority
of hotspot deployments, followed by hotels.
This
Market Alert is drawn from the In-Stat/MDR report, "Hotspots:
More Hype than Hip?", which examines recent trends
in the hotspot market including increasing deployment
scale and management of larger networks, integration
of WLAN into an existing service and billing architecture,
and evolution of clients and APs in the hotspot market.
Additionally, there are some market challenges, including
appropriate alignment of venue deployment to target
audiences, establishing roaming models and relationships,
and determining future service applications. Location,
service revenue and equipment revenue forecasts are
included, offering worldwide and regional numbers.
SOURCE
Instat Press Release Back
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