By Tony Hallett, 25 July 2003 13:00
NEWS Wi-Fi services will be used by almost 700 million people worldwide by 2008, according to one of the most bullish forecasts yet for the wireless access technology. Based on the 802.11b standard, which offers wireless LAN access to corporate users and the public, Wi-Fi will develop in several key ways, say researchers at Pyramid: - there will consolidation among equipment manufacturers, meaning the big boys will buy smaller software and device makers - most consumer aggregators and WISPs (wireless ISPs) will die or partner with carriers because of roaming, support and billing issues - Wi-Fi will be used more as a customer loyalty strategy, helping retain customers for other services - potentially bad news for those with business models based purely on charging for access. Predicting around a tenth of the world's population will be surfing the Wi-Fi wave is based partly on operators' current roll outs. Pyramid notes BT establishing 4,000 hotspots by the end of 2004 and Korea Telecom setting up 16,000 this year. Most famously, Verizon in the US is using the technology at phone booths, in essence networking Manhattan, and different types of service providers are also using the technology all over the world. A survey of 970 telecoms executives by Pyramid notably showed they believe Wi-Fi will "have a positive effect" but that they're "not sure how Wi-Fi will impact their industry and what the business model (or models) will look like".
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