Wi-Fi Hotspots Expanding

Wi-Fi hotspots are as important to business travelers as hotel bars and direct flights and ABI Research says they are prolifirating at a rate of 25% a year (for 2007 anyway). That brings the number up to 179,500, which is approximately the population of Saarbrücken, Germany. That’s great news.

The bulk of the growth is still in North America and Europe at this point, but Asian access points are expected to catch up to the U.S./Euro numbers by 2012.

The hospitality industry is a huge Wi-Fi market with approximately a quarter of all Wi-Fi spots in the world. This industry should be the place where VoIP (or voice over Wi-Fi) really takes hold. Several manufacturers are working hard to ensure Wi-Fi phones will work over the hot spots.