News
Issue #2003 - 08 (March 2003)
(Updated Mar. 10, 2003)

INFRASTRUCTURE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Ericsson, IBN to Build 5,000 Hot Spots in U.K.

Ericsson today inked a deal with Inspired Broadcast Networks (IBN) to build a network of 5,000 hot spots across the U.K. No financial details were released. Ericsson said this is its largest Wi-Fi network deal to date. IBN said it plans to work with Ericsson, BT, and Intel to create a nationwide network it calls The Cloud, which will expand to about 30,000 hot spots over the next three years. The company said it plans to sell wholesale capacity to branded mobile and broadband providers, as well as "pay-as-you-go" services at the hot spots. IBN's business model looks like a combination of the traditional WISP model and the reseller tactic being tried by Cometa Networks in the U.S.

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: This is a major announcement because of the aggressive target that IBN has put in front of itself. IBN will find that it does take finite amount of time to get agreements with property managers, hotels, restaurant chains, recruit installers and then install these things. Nonetheless, this is a good target to shoot for. We should remember, there are virtually hundreds of thousands of public spots (hotels, plazas, bars, pubs and coffee shops) in a country and millions across the world. If we can offer WiFi in 20% of these spots, we would have achieved significant penetration. 

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