LONDON-The gap is widening between the number of Wi-Fi end-user devices and the number of commercial Wi-Fi hot spots, but the devices should catch up within the next two years, according to two new studies from Juniper Research.
“The imbalance that we see now will be damaging to the survival of some of the weaker hot-spot providers and will no doubt continue to inhibit the revenue-generation capability of the sector as a whole,” said Juniper’s Alan Stewart. “We do believe, however, that a critical mass of devices will be reached within a two-year timeframe. Our forecasts for the sector in the medium term continues to be strong.”
Juniper believes 10,450 live commercial hot spots were in service at the end of June 2003 and forecasts that number will jump to 40,650 by the end of 2003. The group expects 41 million Wi-Fi chipset shipments by the end of this year and predicts the commercial hot-spot sector will generate $1.3 billion by 2006.
