The number of public hotspots in the world is set to explode over the course of next four years and the same is true for the UK as well says a new research by iPass and analyst firm Maravedis who claim that the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in the world is set to rise to a whopping 340 million and in the UK it will reach 14 million.
This increase means that there will be one Wi-Fi hotspot for every 20 people in the world hinting at the point that Wi-Fi, just like utilities including water and electricity, is becoming an essential part of everyday life.
“Most of the devices we use are Wi-Fi only and even on the most advanced 4G handsets, 78 per cent of data goes over Wi-Fi. Simply put, it’s the network of choice for consumers and soon they’ll be able to roam this alternative network of millions of hotspots”, said Evan Kaplan, president and CEO of iPass.
If we look at the clickable map of Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, following are some key observations:
- Over 50 per cent of world’s hotspots are currently located in Europe,
- France is the most connected country followed by the US and UK.
- 50 per cent of all public Wi-Fi networks being currently operated by companies whose main business is not telecommunications
- China has five times more commercial hotspots than any other country.
As far as the future of Wi-Fi hotspots is concerned, the iPass research claims that the number will cross 340 million mark – which equals to one for every 20 people on earth. Further, Asia will be the leader in Wi-Fi hotspots by 2018. Homespots introduced by ISPs including BT, Comcast and others will fuel public wi-fi taking such small networks “from the cities to the suburbs”, the research claims.
“Every second home you walk past will be a public hotspot that you can use if you are part of that provider’s network,” said June Bower, chief marketing officer at iPass.
