The amount of public Internet hotspots (Wi-Fi) worldwide would more than quadruple to around 5.8 million by 2015, according to a study by research firm Informa.
The study, which was commissioned by telecom industry lobby The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), pointed out that it was driven by increasing consumer demand for smartphones and tablets connections.
Telecom operators are eyeing these hotspots which are crucial for offloading wireless data traffic, which is expected to grow 26-fold in the next five years, as per Cisco.
China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier in terms of subscribers, is planning to deploy a million hotspots, while Japan’s second largest mobile carrier KDDI plans to expand to 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots from its present number of 10,000 within six months.
WBA Chairman Chris Bruce says, "Fixed operators are extending broadband services beyond the home and office, and Wi-Fi is supporting busy mobile broadband networks.
