Wi-Fi deployments have reached 4.2 million hotspots in 2013, said ABI Research.
The number of hotspots will grow at a CAGR of 15.0 percent between 2013 and 2018 to 10.5 million, said the Wi-Fi report.
Among the global Wi-Fi hotspots, 68.6 percent of Wi-Fi is in Asia-Pacific, followed by 12.3 percent in Latin America, 9.0 percent in Europe, 8.7 percent in North America, and 1.4 percent in Middle East and Africa.
The number includes Wi-Fi hotspots deployed by mobile and fixed-line carriers as well as third party operators, said ABI Research.
The growth driver is the global mobile data traffic that will grow to 190,000 petabytes in 2018 from 23,000 petabytes in 2013.
In Asia-Pacific, China alone has deployed 620,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, of which 420,000 have been built by China Mobile, followed by China Telecom with 128,000 hotspots, and China Unicom with 72,000.
In Latin America, Brazil’s carrier Oi has completed its target of 500,000 Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of 2013, ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The UK fixed-line operator BT with 200,000 of Wi-Fi hotspots (excl. homespots) is also providing Wi-Fi roaming services to mobile operators and other Wi-Fi providers.
The third party operators are also broadening their Wi-Fi network coverage, such as FON, provided access to more than 12 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide at the end of 2013 – either through its own Wi-Fi hotspots, or by securing retail access to the Wi-Fi hotspots of its carrier partners.
