... IT giant Cisco Systems, which sees internet hotspots as crucial for offloading wireless data traffic - a paradigm expected by the company to grow 26-fold over the next five years - an astonishing surge which Cisco attributes to viewings of video on mobile devices.
Says WBA chairman Chris Bruce (also ceo of BT's Openzone): "The findings show we are about to enter the golden age of public wi-fi with hotspot deployments set to soar. Fixed operators are extending broadband services beyond the home and office, and wi-fi is supporting busy mobile broadband networks."
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, intends to deploy a million hotspots while Japan's second biggest mobile carrier KDDI plans to extend its 10,000 wi-fi hotspots to 100,000 within six months.
Other key members of the WBA include AT&T, NTT Docomo, Orange, Comcast, T-Mobile, Verizon and Skype.