Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Metric: Hot spot growth hot in Europe

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 17:40:21 -0500

Metric: Hot spot growth hot in Europe

According to researcher IDC, the number of hotspots sky rocketed by 327 percent last
year, from 269 locations at the end of 2001 to 1,150 at the end of 2002. The growth is in
part due to a change in regulatory issues, IDC said. Operators were initially slow to roll

out hotspots in Western Europe, where there where strict regulatory restrictions. When
regulations were changed in 2002, a whole new range of hotspots were announced.
European carriers are aggressively pushing hot spots, after their initial wariness about
802.11 technology. Last week, France Telecom announced an initiative to launch hot
spots across the country with a two-tiered service model targeting both consumers and
enterprises.

Editorial Prediction: Look for Wi-Fi solutions, especially carrier-to-Wi-Fi roaming
solutions,
to be hot at this year's 3GSM World Congress in Cannes and at CTIA in New Orleans. HP
has already jumped on this bandwagon with Transat. Expect more IT integrator
announcements in the weeks to come.
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Hotspots Hot In
Europe

By Vikki Lipset
Managing Editor, allNetDevices

February 07, 2003

A sluggish global economy hasn't prevented the European
hotspot market from exploding.

According to a new report from research firm IDC, the
number of hotspots climbed 327 percent last year, from 269
locations at the end of 2001 to 1,150 at the end of 2002.

The growth is in part due to a change in regulatory issues,
IDC said. Operators were initially slow to roll out hotspots in
Western Europe, where there where strict regulatory
restrictions. When regulations were changed in 2002, a
whole new range of hotspots were announced.

"In 2003 new players will continue to enter the wireless LAN
hotspot market," said Evelien Wiggers, senior research
analyst for IDC's European Telecommunications and
Networking research. "Not only specialized WLAN companies
will start deploying public services, incumbent mobile
operators and fixed operators are also expected to combine
WLAN services into their existing mobile offering."

The number of hotspot operators also grew dramatically in 2002, but the market is
becoming increasingly fragmented, IDC said. Most operators focused on service only
in their own region, with few offering options for international roaming.

For example, Telia Homerun operates 41 percent of all the hotspots in Europe, but
IDC said it was difficult to access its network outside of the Nordic countries. And
while Metronet controls the Austrian hotspot market, their customers must subscribe
to another network in order to access the Internet outside Austria.

http://www.allnetdevices.com/wireless/news/2003/02/07/hotspots_hot.html

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