Over a quarter (26 percent) of service providers's access points will be Hotspot 2.0-compliant by 2016 to enable seamless roaming among WiFi networks and between WiFi and cellular networks, according to Infonetics' recent study. The study which covered service providers operating Wi-Fi networks saw respondents expecting a significant increase in their access point deployments by the end of 2016.
Infonetics Carrier WiFi Strategies and Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey shows that respondents' top drivers for deploying carrier WiFi are preventing churn, bundling service with mobile broadband, improving coverage and generating new WiFi access revenue. Carriers surveyed are adopting a growing variety of monetization models, with tiered hotspots and WiFi roaming growing the fastest through 2016. According to Infonetics, Ruckus Wireless and Cisco lead respondent perception of top carrier WiFi vendors for the third consecutive year.
Richard Webb, Research Director, Mobile Backhaul & Small Cells, IHS
Revenue generation has become a key driver of carrier WiFi deployments. Not only does Hotspot 2.0 support integration of WiFi with mobile and fixed networks, but it supports the creation of new revenue models for WiFi services. While not all of the carriers we interviewed currently have firm plans to deploy network functions virtualization (NFV) in their carrier WiFi networks, the drivers for doing so relate to revenue, with capex and opex efficiency, greater network flexibility and support for rapid service changes topping the list.
