WDN NewsByte... 2003 - The Year of Wi-Fi
by Nicki Hayes, February 10, 2003
Nicki Hayes, WirelessDevNet’s European correspondent, reckons that 2003 could be the European Year of Wi-Fi - if the big telecom companies finally co-operate with the small guys.
It looks like the penny (or should I say euro) has finally dropped. The big European telecom companies have realized that Wi-Fi is complimentary to 3G. They understand at last that, rather than stealing away customers from their 3G mobile services, Wi-Fi could actually foster a culture that will drive their technology forward. What’s more, if Wi-Fi’s new-found popularity continues to grow, it may even throw a lifeline to the voice-over-IP telephony market. Yes folks, it looks like 2003 could be the European Year of Wi-Fi.
Indeed, analysts are predicting that European sales of Wi-Fi interface cards for PCs will soar by 66 per cent to 4.6 million units in 2003 (In-Stat/MDR), and that there will be half a million Wi-Fi users by 2004 (Yankee Group). Such numbers are attracting the attention of Europe’s big telecom companies, whose recent investments are igniting this growth. Take TeliaSonera, the Swedish-Finnish operator, which has deployed 500 hotspots across Sweden giving it the largest Wi-Fi footprint in Europe. Or Switzerland’s Swisscom, or Germany’s T-Mobile, or UK’s BT Group Plc – all of which are trying to plug-in to Wi-Fi. And let’s not forget the growing group of independent operators, airport authorities, hotel chains, and individual entrepreneurs who are also trying to get in on the act.
But what is it that’s turned the big telecommunications companies around?
Have they finally seen that not only can 3G and Wi-Fi co-exist, but that one can bolster the other, fostering a culture in which Earth’s convenience junkies will use the most appropriate technology available to facilitate their increasingly nomadic lifestyles, so long as it is safe and affordable. So, if checking mail while waiting for a flight at the airport is the job, connecting a laptop to the corporate network via a Wi-Fi hot spot will be the chosen technology. But, if checking flight times whilst en-route to the airport is the job, 3G handsets will be the chosen tool. Whatever the tool, the benefits derived from the adoption of one will only lead to the adoption of the other.
Or is it that they’ve done the sums? It typically costs less than $1000 to deploy a hot spot that can accommodate ten users at once. The equivalent capacity on a 3G network costs about $10,000.
Whatever the reason, with so many interested parties, we could be steaming headlong into the troubled waters of a fragmented market, accompanied by the well-known undercurrents of roaming, pricing, and security problems. That is unless the market follows TeliaSonera’s lead. They’ve recently entered a roaming agreement with the London-based pan-European Wi-Fi provider Megabeam that lets users from either network log onto the other. Well-done TeliaSonera!
Should other operators follow suit, then I am sure that Europe will witness a self-perpetuating growth in Wi-Fi technology. In fact, if its current spurt is maintained, we may even see the voice-over-IP telephony market receive a long-awaited lifeline. True, channeling voice calls over wireless data networks is a relatively new proposal, but the signs are already there that it is being taken seriously. Take the recent announcement of an enterprise partnership between Motorola, Proxim and Avaya. They are pooling their resources to research and develop reliable, cost-efficient wireless communication solutions targeted at corporate buyers.
Pay heed though. Such partnerships alone are not enough for Wi-Fi VoIP to reach its true potential. If wireless voice-over-IP (Wi-Fi VoIP) is to make it out of the starting blocks, operators and other hot spot providers need to co-operate, 802.11b network standards need to speed up, and extra battery life needs to be built into the dual-mode VoIP handsets. Should these needs be met, then 2003 could truly be the European Year of Wi-Fi.
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About the author:
Nicki Hayes is The Wireless Developer Network's (www.wirelessdevnet.com) European correspondent and the part-time judge part-time jester of its new online debate -
Holding Court. Nicki also takes on freelance writing and corporate communication projects relating to business to business internet and wireless issues and has
contributed editorial to a number of publications including Unstrung.com, Wireless Business & Technology, Guardian Online, Financial Times, Banking &
Financial Training, eAI Journal and Secure Computing.
About the WirelessDevNet (www.wirelessdevnet.com):
The Wireless Developer Network is an on-line community for information technology
professionals interested in mobile computing and communications. Our mission is to assist
developers, strategists, and managers in bridging the gap between today's desktop and
enterprise applications and tomorrow's mobile users communicating via wireless networks.
We are interested in supporting the deployment of these evolving technologies through
high-quality technical information, news, industry coverage, and commentary. This
information is provided within a true on-line community that supports developer/vendor
dialogue through message boards and user-submitted tips, articles, links, and software
downloads.
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