In 2006, the number of commercial Wi-Fi hotspots will grow by 47 percent worldwide, bring the total number to 143,700, according to a new ABI Research forecast. While 74 percent of these sites are predicted to be in North America and Europe, the Asia Pacific region is also growing.
“By 2011 the Asia Pacific region will surpass both Europe and North America in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots,” said Stan Schatt, ABI’s vice president and research director.
But Europe is still the market leader, with more than 57 million hotspots.
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One major driver of Wi-Fi hotspots is retail establishments, ABI said. McDonald’s, for instance, has added hotspots to 17 percent of its 4,000 locations.
With nearly 40,000 hotspots worldwide, the hospitality industry has also become a leader in providing Wi-Fi hotspots. Schatt said that by 2010 the hospitality industry will offer more than 109,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.
The growing Wi-Fi hotspot market is creating a demand for Wi-Fi access points. More than 675,000 access points will be shipped this year for use in hotspots. ABI noted that there also has been a dramatic increase in the number of Wi-Fi sessions per subscriber, meaning that subscribers are lingering longer and spending more time doing their e-mail and surfing the Internet.
