Corporate Wi-Fi usage in the U.S. hasn’t grown much but has seen a sharp spike in Europe and Latin America, according to new data released by iPass. While Latin America represents a fairly small number of users, Rick Bilodeau, VP of corporate and channel marketing at iPass, believes the high price of roaming on cellular data networks in Europe makes Wi-Fi a more economical option for business travelers and other corporate users. IPass provides Wi-Fi and cellular data access through agreements with network operators for corporate customers.
Most of those accessing Wi-Fi are still doing so in airports and hotels, but as places such as McDonald’s rolling out networks, restaurants are also growing in popularity. In addition to restaurants, network growth will likely also come from service rollouts in train stations and European hotels, said Bilodeau.
And for those wondering which cities and airports sport the greatest numbers of corporate Wi-Fi users, London is the top metro and Chicago O’Hare is the top airport.
Ericsson’s going to be really pissed about this. ;)
i suspect this to be a bit of an anomaly. particularly the paid hotspots. it may be a few years still. but people do not want multiple subscriptions/technologies. what we will see is universal 3g/4g data over cellular networks. plus possible an increase in completely free wifi in smaller business’s such as coffee shops and mom and pop hotels. but as technologies become more similar i have a hard time seeing a market for subscription wifi.
of course i am assuming we will see massive decrease in 3g data charges including unlimited data options including international roaming. blackberry already has unlimited international email roaming options through many carriers and i expect that to increase to include the full suite of data including web browsing and application data transfer and eventually tethering.
Any data on Canada? After all, we are the US’s largest trading partner and a G7 country…
It is quite fascinating to watch the latest happenings in the wireless Internet domain as it seems to have a significant impact on the way we live and work. The trends obviously suggest tremendous growth. Everyone wants to be connected always. Carrying a mobile isn’t enough. Carrying the net matters.