Wi-Fi HOTSPOT OPPORTUNITIES

Table Of Contents

I. EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

• A. Overview
  
• B. The Nature of the Inquiry
  
• C. Toward a Definition
  
• D. Scope and Methodology
  
• E. Primary Emphasis, Economics
  
• F. Structure of this Report
  

II. ORIGINS & ENABLERS

• A. The Cybercafe – Influence More than Ancestor
  
• B. The Standards Revolution
  
• C. Repurposed Technology
  
  • 1. A further word on the status of Wi-Fi as repurposed technology:
    
• D. The Hotspot Industry Post-Standards – the Pioneers
  
  • 1. MobileStar, et al
    
  • 2. Enter Boingo and the Boom Mentality
    

III. INFRASTRUCTURE & PLATFORMS

• A. THE ECONOMICS & LOGISTICS OF BUILDING HOTSPOTS
  
• B. Basic Connectivity – the Wireless Component
  
  • 1. Standards and Sub standards
    
• C. The Unlicensed Landscape
  
  • 1. Coping With Interference in the Unlicensed Bands
    
• D. Waiting in the Wings – 802.11a and 802.11g
  
• E. The Open Spectrum Movement
  
• F. Blue Tooth or Red Herring?
  
  • 1. UWB waiting in the wings
    
• G. Putting a Price on Hotspots or the Low Barrier to Entry Argument
  
• H. Securing Access
  
• I. Turnkey Operation Systems
  
• J. Deploying Multiple Access Points
  
• K. The Terminal Conundrum
  
• L. Pricing of Services
  
  • 1. Growing Bigger
    
  • 2. The Rudiments Revisited
    
• M. Return On Investment
  
  • 1. One-Time Expenditures
    
  • 2. Recurrent Expenditures
    
  • 3. Revenues
    
  • 4. Profitability
    

IV. DEFINING THE MARKETS

• A. The Subscriber
  
  • 1. The Business User
    
  • 2. The Consumer
    
• B. The Venues
  
  • 1. Hospitality
    
    • a) Airports
      
    • b) Hotels
      
    • c) Convention Centers
      
  • 2. Transport
    
    • a) Trains, Subways and Stations
      
    • b) Airplanes
      
    • c) Cruise Ships
      
  • 3. Around Town
    
    • a) Cafes and Restaurants
      
    • b) Shopping Malls
      
    • c) Internet Pay Phones
      
    • d) Parks and Plazas
      
    • e) Citywide Networks
      
    • f) Retail Chains6
      
  • 4. Other Venues
    
    • a) Marinas
      
    • b) Purely Experimental
      
    • c) The Anti-venues, Municipal Hotspots & Private Freenets
      
    • d) Enterprise Hotspots
      
  • 5. Winners and Losers
    

V. THE HOTSPOT MARKET

• A. Hotspot Growth Patterns
  
• B. Hotspot Service Providers at beginning of 200
  
• C. U.S. Market
  
• D. Asian Market
  
• E. European Market
  
• F. Projecting Usage Rates
  
• G. Projecting Profits
  
• H. Projecting Backhaul and Core Requirements
  
  

VI. VENDORS & SERVICE PROVIDERS

• A. THE MAJOR CATEGORIES
  
  • 1. The Service Providers
    
    • a) Telco Incumbents
      
    • b) Wireline Carriers
      
    • c) Mobile Carriers
      
    • d) Internet Service Providers
      
    • e) Multi-vendor Industry Initiatives
      
    • f) Independent Service Providers
      
• B. Infrastructure and Support
  
  • 1. Aggregators
    
  • 2. Operations Support Systems and Billing & Management
    
  • 3. Wholly Other, the Avaya-Motorola-Proxim Play
    
  • 4. Hardware and Expediters
    
    

VII. ISSUES & SOLUTIONS

• A. Where It Fits Within the Broader Communications Universe
  
• B. Applications and Content
  
• C. Security
  
  

VIII. SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS

IX. APPENDIX

• A. Acronyms & Abbreviations
  

Figures

• Figure 1 Global Public Hotspot Site Growth by Company 2001-200
  
• Figure 2 Global Distribution of Public WLAN Sites
  
• Figure 3 New Hotspots per year: U.S.
  
• Figure 4 Total Hotspots in the U.S.
  
• Figure 5 New Hotspots in Asia
  
• Figure 6 Number of Hotspots in Asia
  
• Figure 7 New European Hotspots per Year
  
• Figure 8 Total Hotspots in Europe
  
• Figure 9 Sessions per Year in the U.S.
  
• Figure 10 Sessions per Year in Europe
  
• Figure 11 Revenues for U.S. Hotspots
  
• Figure 12 Hotspot Revenues for Europe
  
  

Tables

• Table 1 Global Public Hotspot Site Growth by Company 2001-200
  
• Table 2 Representative Wireline Incumbents Providing Hotspot Services
  
• Table 3 Representative Mobile Incumbents Providing Hotspot Services
  
• Table 4 Representative Hotspot Wireless ISPs
  
• Table 5 Representative U.S. Independent Hotspot Service Providers
  
• Table 6 Representative European Independent Hotspot Service Providers
  
• Table 7 Representative Asia/Pacific Independent Hotspot Service Providers
  
• Table 8 Representative Hotspot Aggregators
  
• Table 9 Representative Hotspot Network Software Houses
  
• Table 10 Representative Hotspot-Specific Equipment Manufacturers
  
  

Forward Concepts Co. 1575 West University Drive #111, Tempe, AZ 85281, Voice:(480) 968-3759, Fax:(480) 968-7145 info@fwdconcepts.com | HOME | STUDIES | PRESS RELEASES | LINKS | ORDER | COMPANY INFO | CONTACT US | Copyright © 2002 Forward Concepts Co. "Forward Concepts" and the stylized FC logo are registered trademarks of Forward Concepts Co. ® Reg. U.S. Pat. & T. Office.