November 28, 2001
In the midst of more pressing issues related to the deployment of next-generation network infrastructure, mobile carriers are quietly investigating the opportunities presented by public wireless local-area solutions (PWLASs). In a new Report entitled "Public Wireless Local-Area Solutions," the Yankee Group looks at how mobile carriers are responding to the competitive threat posed by the emerging independent wireless ISP community, as well as to the potentially large market opportunity of the yet-to-be-defined PWLAS-WAN internetworking market. Fueling the development of the PWLAS market are the following market drivers:
-- There is increasing commitment from mobile device vendors (primarily notebook PCs) to integrate 802.11b.
-- Technology advances (component reduction) and competition place downward pressures on pricing.
-- Greater awareness and increasing acceptance of WLAS technologies in the enterprise drive interest in extending the value of private investments in WLAS.
-- Introduction of simpler products with intuitive installation and usability reduces end-user confusion.
According to author Sarah Kim, "While the PWLAS market presents many of the same technical obstacles as the enterprise WLAS market, it also introduces new requirements such as regulations and policy support, roaming and billing, and bandwidth management. Independent PWLAS operators are spearheading the initial expansion of WLASs into the public space, but have demonstrated minimal success to date (i.e., uptake of PWLASs by prospective locations in the United States is less than 1%). Other service providers, including mobile carriers and traditional ISPs, are closely investigating opportunities in this market but are moving with caution to avoid the fate of other wireless data players such as MobileStar and Metricom."
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