Telecom Lead India: By 2013, the percentage of service
providers planning to deploy Wi-Fi for street coverage jumps to 79 percent.
Two-thirds of the service providers have deployed 20,000
to over 150,000 Wi-Fi access points (APs) in public spaces. Mobile data service
and scarcity of licensed spectrum will drive carrier Wi-Fi.
Nearly all carriers that Infonetics Research interviewed
plan to increase the number of access points deployed by 2013.
Smartphones and tablets are named by mobile operators as
the top mobile broadband devices driving their 2013 deployments of public Wi-Fi
networks.
Infonetics Research said mobile operators are behind
carrier Wi-Fi as a key solution for mobile offload, even as they continue to
investigate other small cell possibilities.
Our survey shows that whilst data offload is the current
priority, in coming years operators will want to see a closer integration of
Wi-Fi with the mobile network so that offload becomes more intelligent,
automated, and seamless. They want to utilize Wi-Fi not only to augment mobile
services, but to enhance the network itself by becoming an integrated part of
the mobile network,” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave, mobile
offload, and mobile broadband devices at Infonetics Research.
