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Internet is a pervasive medium, but by and large, it's accessed from fixed locations such as LAN or through individual modems. With the advent of wireless standards such as 801.11b, access to Internet assumed new dimensions and manifested in what is popularly called Wi-Fi. When Wi-Fi hotspots hit India three years back, service providers got busy  setting up hotspots in public places such as airports, rail stations, and hotels. Around that time, Intel announced the revolutionary Wi-Fi ready Centrino, a new high in mobile computing. In some developed countries, even public places such as parks and shopping malls have Wi-Fi hotspots. However, in India, hotspots  remain a value-added service at entities such as hotels and up-market coffee shops-Baristas and the Café Coffee Days. But with Intel  bullish on WiMax, the service providers are expected to adopt WiMax, which will give a new paradigm to on-the-go access to the Internet.

Potential Untapped
For service providers, hotspots as a business potential still looks fuzzy. Despite the evolution of OSS players who take care of the billing side, and manage Wi-Fi networks, India still fares dismally low. Despite the government's move to de-licence the 2.4 and 5.1 GHz bands, no large-scale efforts to set up hotspots are visible.

Right now, only tech-savvy users-on-the-go demand Wi-Fi access points. Hotspots are located inside hotels and Wi-Fi is offered as a value-added service to customers on demand basis. Exorbitant rates are charged for access. Moreover, with the advent of CDMA based mobiles, a notebook user can use the Internet services of the cellular operator and literally access the net from anywhere. Hence, in a way, CDMA competes with hotspots.

Notebooks: The Key Drivers
There are numerous enabling aspects that make hotspots happen. Key to which is the access hardware, that is the notebook. With the advent of Intel Centrino, the wireless standard has become a default feature in notebooks today. Other processors such as AMD also offer various wireless compliant notebooks. On-the-go access to information is waiting in the wings, but still remains exclusive because of the low overall notebook penetration levels in India. Some industry watchers also say that a culture similar to the cellular boom should happen to notebooks. Analysts point out that the steady decline in notebook prices and an increase in overall notebook volumes, make Wi-Fi hotspots an area to watch out for in the days ahead.

There are a few hundred hotspots scattered across the country. Service providers should evolve sustainable business models with long-term strategies to promote hotspots. According to a study by Pyramid Research, “The public hotspot market has taken off at a record pace across the world, and yet the underlying infrastructure to support this network build-out is still rudimentary.” The agency estimates that public Wi-Fi revenue will reach $1.6 bn by 2008. “If that is to materialize, then operators will need to develop or acquire back-office technology that will address several major challenges,” it added.

For hotspots to mature into an industry in itself, India still has a long way to go.

ShrikanthG
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in

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