[ABI]: 10.5M Wi-Fi Hotspots by 2018 to Maximize Coverage

A new report by Marina Lu [pictured], Research Analyst, ABI Research finds that "Worldwide Wi-Fi deployments reached a total of 4.2 million hotspots in 2013, and will continue to grow at a CAGR of 15.0% between 2013 and 2018, to exceed 10.5 million .. The number includes Wi-Fi hotspots deployed by mobile and fixed-line carriers as well as third party operators .. Wi-Fi helps to offload 3G/4G mobile Internet users to Wi-Fi networks, which is a more cost-effective method for both mobile carriers and mobile users.”

In Asia-Pacific, China alone has deployed 620,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, of which 420,000 have been built by China Mobile, followed by China Telecom with 128,000 hotspots, and China Unicom with 72,000. 

In Latin America, Brazil’s carrier Oi [see "Oi [Brazil] Uses Aptilo to Create a Public Wi-Fi over Home/SMB Routers" - here] has completed its target of 500,000 Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of 2013, ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

.. Wi-Fi also represents a good opportunity for fixed-line operators to join in the mobile broadband field. The UK fixed-line operator BT with 200,000 of Wi-Fi hotspots (excl. homespots) is also providing Wi-Fi roaming services to mobile operators and other Wi-Fi providers"

See "Global Wi-Fi Hotspots Will Grow to 7.1 Million in 2015 as a Method to Offload Traffic" - here.

[GSMA] Top Global MNOs - Q1, 2013

GSMA Intelligence published its latest ‘Scoreboard’ operator ranking.

"China Mobile remained the world’s largest mobile operator based on connections and annual mobile revenue – strengthening its lead over second-placed Vodafone - while domestic rivals China Unicom and China Telecom both increased their ranking score from a year ago. China Unicom climbed two places to #5, surpassing Verizon Wireless (#6) and VimpelCom Group (#7), while China Telecom also increased two places to #11, jumping ahead of Deutsche Telekom (#12) and MTN Group (#13)".

See "The top 20 global mobile operator groups by connections and revenue, Q1 2013" - here.

Parental Control Deployments [201]: China Telecom to Deploy LiveMobile

John Kennedy reports to siliconrepublic that "Mobile software company Live Mobile – previously known as Mobile Minder, has struck a lucrative deal with one of the world’s biggest mobile operators, China Telecom, that will see the company create 70 new jobs in Ireland and China. The deal will see its cloud service deployed in China to protect millions of children by turning their smartphones in to a child safety device .. a proprietary technology that sits on smartphones and allows parents to make sure their children are both physically and mentally safe from the activities of bullies on the street or cyberbullying via social networks".

"Made up of two parts, the first part of the service is the MobileMinder application which is installed on the child's smartphone. The second part is the MobileMinder online platform, where parents can protect their child by viewing the child's phone activity and location".

See "Irish mobile software player in breakthrough deal with China Telecom – 70 new jobs on way" - here.

DiViNetworks' is Ready to Optimize China Telecom International Links

DiViNetworks announced that "China Telecom’s Guangzhou Institute approved DiViNetworks’ solutions, following lab tests targeted at China Telecom’s 10G international links .. The thorough testing conducted by China Telecom demonstrated 30-50% capacity expansion with general Internet traffic, and 10X capacity expansion with video traffic".

According to Yair Shapira, DiViNetworks' VP of Marketing and BD, China Telecom will use its DiViLink product over its network of international links (see "Vendor Review: DiViNetworks' Bytestream Caching" - here).

DiViLink

".. With the success in China Telecom, DiViNetworks established a Joint Venture in China named BeijingDiViNet, which will lead commercial and technical activities in China. DiViCloud [here] PoPs (points of presence - see below) are being established in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, followed by Mainland China".

See "DiViNetworks gets the Green Light from China Telecom" - here.

China Telecom Prioritizes Tudou.com Video Uploads

    

A simple example for video monetization, with the absence of Network Neutrality rules. This time the content owner pays.

China Tech News site reports that "Proving that fairness ends at the Great Firewall, Chinese video website Tudou.com announced that it has reached agreement with China Telecom to increase the video upload speed on Tudou.com for users in Shanghai. According to local media reports, Tudou.com said with the cooperation, China Telecom's fiber network users in Shanghai will enjoy about 4 Mb/S video upload speed on Tudou.com, which is reportedly four to eight times faster than other video websites in China. In the future, the cooperation will be expanded to the nationwide market of the two parties".

"At the beginning of September 2011, China Telecom Shanghai branch officially launched a broadband speed increase program. Under this program, China Telecom's existing fiber network users in Shanghai can enjoy a free-of-charge speed increase to between 10M and 30M; while ADSL users who want to join the fiber network can enjoy a free-of-charge speed increase to above 4M. By the end of 2011, there will be 4.5 million fiber network users in Shanghai"

See "Net Neutrality Rejected In China As Tudou.com Inks Internet Video Deal" - here.

China Telecom Plans to be an "Intelligent Pipeline" (using also DPI)

 

Chairman & CEO

Wang Xiaochu



China Telecom announced its "INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2011" (here).

The "Chairman's Statement - Planning ahead and fully preparing for the future" explains the carrier's desire to be the "Leader of the Intelligent Pipeline":

’ freedom to participate in network deployment and management, and multi-level quality of service levels for different subscribers and services. This year, we strengthened our access network construction that utilised the passive optical network (PON) technology and achieved comprehensive bandwidth upgrade for our core network and access network. We continued to optimise our 3G network coverage and continued to enhance our network quality to maintain our leading position amongst the peers. We consolidated our carrier-class Wi-Fi network and, strengthened its coordinated traffic offloading from the 3G network. Technologies such as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) have been deployed to reinforce the identification capability of the mobile network on customers and services, and to implement the precise mobile traffic management."

"Our intelligent pipeline will feature high-speed bandwidth, convergent wireline and mobile network, users

[WSJ] AT&T, China Telecom and PCCW Expand Wi-Fi; Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile will not Deploy

   

Cari Tuna covers for the Wall Street Jounral the recent trends in use of carrier Wi-Fi to improve the capacity of wireless data networks. See "Battling a Wireless Deluge" - here.

AT&T, being the most famous wireless operator to use Wi-Fi (see "AT&T: Times Square needs a Wifi Boost to cope with 3G Traffic" - here) : "Today, the carrier has six such Wi-Fi access zones across the U.S. and plans a "rapid acceleration" in its building of such networks over the coming year, said Angie Wiskocil (top picture), AT&T's senior vice president of Wi-Fi services. She called it a "cost-effective complement" to the company's 3G cellular network".

Other carriers using Wi-Fi are Towerstream, PCCW (Hong-Kong) and China Telecom - "Ruckus Wireless said a unit of China Telecom had installed more than 4,000 Wi-Fi access points across Chongqing, a major city in southwestern China, in order to augment its cellular network".

 

Nevertheless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless are not deploying Wi-Fi. "There are features on cellular networks that you don't have on Wi-Fi—the mobility, security and reliability that our customers have come to expect" said Nicola Palmer, (picture) VP Network, Verizon Wireless.

See also - "In-Stat: Wi-Fi Hotspot Growth Continues to be Strong" - here. 

Gartner analyst Paul DeBeasi told WSJ: "Outdoor Wi-Fi access points are also smaller, easier to install and, at roughly a thousand dollars each, less expensive than cellular towers.. however, that Wi-Fi access points are designed to transmit signals several hundred feet, compared with a cell site's reach of several miles"