The State of WiFi beyond 2015

Posted on November 11, 2011

I’m sure many of you have heard that the World Broadband Alliance just released their report titled “Global Developments in Public Wi-Fi”.  If you haven’t seen the report, you may have read one of the many articles that cite its many statistics.  The most significant statistic that’s been brought to our attention is the projected number of hotspots by 2015.  WBA projects 5.8 million hotspots. (We at Devicescape can confidently say there are significantly more but that’s a whole different discussion).  The point being is that WiFi is pervasive.  We all expected that though.

Blogger Kevin Sandlin on the CWNP blog  poses an interesting question.  What will the state of WiFi be like beyond 2015?  He cites the WBA report, a Cisco report on their Networking Index and Forecasts, and IDC data.  In my view he doesn’t make any bold predictions but he does point out something interesting.

From the Cisco report, he states that by 2015, WiFi will consume 37.2 exabytes of data versus 37 exabytes for wired and 6 exabytes for cellular.  The traffic over WiFi is 6x that of cellular.  So “mobility” as we know it today will really just be WiFi down the road.

I think that’s an interesting viewpoint and something that Devicescape hopes to be a part of in 2015 and beyond.  As Kevin Sandlin so casually states, “All three of these reports also reflect the fact that it’s a great time to be in the Wi-Fi world.  Can’t wait to see what will happen after 2015. The next few years are going to be fun…if you’re in the Wi-Fi world.”

That’s great to hear.  It means I may still have a job.

Here’s a link to Kevin’s Blog Post on CWNP:  http://www.cwnp.com/cwnp_wifi_blog/what-happens-in-wi-fi-after-2015