Asia-Pacific Leads the Way for Hotspot Growth
(19/02/2004, Ledbury, UK)
The Asia-Pacific region witnessed the most dramatic spread of wireless LAN hotspots of anywhere in the world during 2003, seeing a more than ten-fold increase in hotspot numbers. According to figures from the BWCS Wireless LAN Continuum service, there were more than 21,300 hotspots in the Asia-Pacific region by end-2003, up from around 2,000 twelve months earlier.
The editor of the W-LAN Continuum service, BWCS analyst Peter Bell, says that the regions WiFi markets have seen some dramatic developments over the past year. While operators in North America and Western Europe made most of the early running in the public access hotspot sector, 2003 has undoubtedly been the year that the Asian WiFi sector came into its own.
The Asia-Pacific hotspot provider with easily the most ambitious plans has been Korea Telecom, which has now installed well over 10,000 public access hotspots in its home market, accounting for more than one third of all hotspots worldwide. Bell says: Unlike many other wireless ISPs, KT has been happy to roll out WiFi access points in consumer-oriented locations rather than focussing mainly on the business sector. It has been aided by the huge popularity of fixed broadband technologies in Korea. KT is now able to claim more than 300,000 WiFi subscribers, two-thirds of which also subscribe to a home DSL service.
KT was also involved in another of Asias main WiFi developments of 2003, the formation of the Wireless Broadband Alliance. The WBA founded by KT, Telstra, Maxis, StarHub and China Netcom last March came together in order to promote WiFi services via joint marketing and roaming initiatives and to establish recognised standards of service. By the end of the year the member companies were operating more than 13,000 hotspots between them, with the vast majority of these in Asia.
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The BWCS Wireless LAN Continuum service offers subscribers a detailed insight into the state of play of WiFi rollouts around the world. Featuring dozens of profiles of the major markets and the most important players, as well as access to a series of insight reports and the latest industry news and analysis, the W-LAN Continuum is a one-stop resource for up-to-date wireless LAN information.
For further details please visit http://www.bwcs.com/subscriber_zone_login.html or
e-mail peter.bell@bwcs.com
About BWCS
BWCS is a leading wireless telecommunications consultancy, based in the UK and operating worldwide. We work with wireless operators, equipment vendors, wireless software providers and major corporate users on wireless communications strategy.
We are also leading analysts on mobile and wireless LAN developments and provide market forecasts for all major country markets and industry sectors.
For more information please go to www.BWCS.com
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