Download full report Global Trends in Public Wi-Fi WBA Wi-Fi Industry Report November 2013 • Standards for interoperability and roaming are vital to address issues and boost confidence • Roaming is very important to the business case, e.g. WBA’s ICP program • Over 60% of carriers will deploy their own hotspots in certain areas • But aggregators and roaming partners will be vital to achieve broad coverage The perceived obstacles increasingly focus on commercial not technical concerns, as standards address the latter. Use Wi-Fi aggregators for national coverage & services 41.6% Build own carrier-grade Wi-Fi in selected areas 64.5% Use Wi-Fi aggregators for international coverage & services 32.0% Partner with other service providers such as cable companies or WISPs 43.7% Consider acquiring one or more WISPs 16.8% Other 1.5% Use so-called crowd sourced hotspots to leverage free & open Wi-Fi services 20.3% How operators plan to build their carrier Wi-Fi footprint Improving customer experience to attract and retain customers is the most important reason to adopt a carrier Wi-Fi strategy. Other key factors • Reducing costs via offload • Creating new revenues • Improving indoor coverage Wi-Fi is about total customer experience, not just offload Key reasons to include carrier Wi-Fi services in a portfolio Some obstacles remain to deploying carrier Wi-Fi and NGH MANY OBSTACLES WILL BE ADDRESSED BY STANDARDS WORK Mobile data offload remains important to MNOs and their partners, but the business case is moving well beyond just offload. MNOs and MSOs will deploy 10.5 million hotspots a year by 2018, directly or with partners. Cumulative base of carrier Wi-Fi locations 55 million by 2018 Monetization strategies which are being implemented in 2013-2014 Deployment of hotspots for MNO or MSO networks NEW BUSINESS CASES DRIVE INVESTMENT PUBLIC Wi-Fi MOVES TO HEART OF CARRIER STRATEGIES Key findings In a survey of the ecosystem, 52% are more confident about investing in public Wi-Fi than they were a year ago Confidence in investing in public Wi-Fi is rising sharply 51.8% More confident about investing 19.4% No change in attitude 18.8% More cautious about investing Other important emerging monetization strategies • Location aware services • Enterprise services • Metrozones Reasons for the increased confidence Increased willingness to invest reflects: • Maturing of standards such as Passpoint and NGH • Wider range of business cases • Increased strategic interest of fixed and mobile carriers Greatest barrier to deploying carrier Wi-Fi and NGH is uncertainty about the business model Other barriers • Need to ensure QoS • Site issues • Technology roadmap uncertainty • Device availability Source: WBA/MaRe ecosystem survey October 2013 unless otherwise stated. © 2013 WBA – Wireless Broadband Alliance Ltd. All rights reserved. Source: Maravedis-Rethink forecast 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 5.2m 6.5m 7.1m 7.9m 8.3m 9.6m 10.5m Improve customer experience and retention Reduce network costs by offloading data Generate new revenue streams (advertising, analytics, M2M) Improve indoor coverage Other Very important Important Somewhat important Not important www.wballiance.com | www.maravedis-bwa.com 43.7% 6.9% 36.8% 12.6% 29.2% 15.3% 28.5% 27.0% 56.7% 3.5% 33.9% 5.9% 32.4% 7.6% 36.5% 23.5% 31.6% 4.7% 41.5% 22.2%