Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
Brian Metzger, Sr. Marketing Mgr, Carrier Services
Consider these facts:
International travel is now at an all-time high, and poised for further growth:
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reports that international tourist arrivals exceeded 1 billion for the first time ever in 2012, equating to 3.8% year-on-year growth from 2011. Furthermore, the volume of international travel is set for robust growth again this year, with the UNWTO forecasting an increase of 3-4% in 2013. Since each international trip represents a potential roaming event, the market for international Wi-Fi roaming has never been greater.
Wi-Fi is the primary network for smartphones and tablets:
According to studies conducted by Informa Telecoms & Media in partnership with Mobidia, Wi-Fi accounts for between 65% and 85% of total smartphone-originated data traffic, depending on the device model and the subscriber’s country of residence.
International travelers are carrying multiple smartphones:
According to a recent iPass survey on international data roaming, 98% of respondents own at least one smartphone, and over one-third (33.8%) of respondents travel with two or more. High levels of smartphone adoption were recorded across all geographies, including key emerging markets such as Brazil, India and China.
And, there is a rise of Wi-Fi exclusive devices:
There has been rapid growth in the adoption and usage of Wi-Fi-only devices (such as tablets) among international travelers. According to Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts, more than 162 million tablets will be shipped in 2013, of which around three-quarters (74%) are expected to ship with Wi-Fi as the only form of connectivity.
Given all the facts above, there has been considerable momentum behind partnership-based approaches to international Wi-Fi roaming on behalf of Communication Service Providers (CSPs). This momentum can be attributed to two key market drivers:
1. Accelerate the availability of attractive international-Wi-Fi roaming services
CSPs that can bring differentiated Wi-Fi roaming propositions to market early can exploit first-mover advantage, and capture the demand that exists among international travelers for an improved roaming experience. By partnering with Wi-Fi aggregators, CSPs can accelerate the availability of new Wi-Fi offers and avoid the hefty investment inherent in a do-it-yourself approach.
2. Leverage the best practice learned from Wi-Fi aggregators
By leveraging the best practice that Wi-Fi aggregators have learned from their existing partnerships and market development, CSPs can mitigate the risk of making costly mistakes and improve their likelihood of commercializing propositions with proven market potential. The support offered to CSPs by Wi-Fi aggregators in areas such as application development, marketing strategy and proposition building form a key part of the value of a partnership-based strategy in international Wi-Fi roaming, and are important reasons why more and more partnership deals are being struck.
With over a dozen cited examples of CSPs that are in market with International Wi-Fi roaming services, along with specific insights on market strategy, commercialization models and messaging, the new iPass/Informa whitepaper, “International Wi-Fi Roaming | Winning Strategies to Construct Wi-Fi/Cellular Data-Roaming Offers for Retail Subscribers,” is a must read.
Read the press release >>
Get the report >>
Report: Strategic insights on international Wi-Fi roaming services for carriers >>
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
Brian Metzger, Sr. Marketing Mgr, Carrier Services
Are you globally mobile? Do you wake up in the morning wondering what country you’re in? Do you have bill-shock nightmares, or toss and turn at night over how much your data roaming bill is going to be?
If you’re a data-roaming globetrotter, then we want to hear from you! Take this 10-minute survey and in return for your time, you will be entered into a drawing to win an iPad! Just in time for your next trip.
Here is a preview of what we would like to find out from you:
1. For international travelers, what’s the highest you’ve ever paid for data roaming in a single trip?
2. What is the typical amount you would spend for Wi-Fi over the duration of one international trip?
3. How much Wi-Fi network access time do you typically use while on an international trip?
Take a few minutes and give us your input. We will use this data to look at trends to help us develop future services and solutions for the business traveler.
Need your input on international data roaming (chance for iPad) >>
Monday, March 19th, 2012
Brian Metzger, Sr. Marketing Mgr, Carrier Services
For carriers and service providers (in Europe), we invite you to attend our webinar tomorrow:
Extending Your Mobile Broadband Service Offerings with Wi-Fi
Technical and Commercial Models
March 20th, 10:00 – 11:00 am GMT (6 am EDT)
The growing appetite for data downloads and Wi-Fi is driven by more users with more devices, particularly smartphones and tablets.
Join Dean Bubley, Founder, Distruptive Analysis and author of Distruptive Wireless blog, Marcio Avillez, Vice President of Network Services, iPass, and Rob Chambers, Managing Director, Total Telecom. They will examine the trends and options for network operators to incorporate Wi-Fi as an integral part of their mobile services strategy.
Attend this webinar and gain valuable insight into:
- What role will Wi-Fi play in the 4G era?
- How Wi-Fi can help differentiate service offerings, increase customer loyalty and capture new revenues.
- Technical and commercial models for extending cellular services through Wi-Fi.
- How to monetize your Wi-Fi network to other mobile service providers.
Register now >>
Make sure to register even if you cannot attend to ensure that you get access to the recording.
We look forward to having you join us!
Extend your Mobile Broadband Service Offering with Wi-Fi [webinar] >>
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
Brian Metzger, Sr. Marketing Mgr, Carrier Services
On April 26th, iPass announced that our global Wi-Fi footprint exceeded 500,000 venues. An important point about this number is that it is all ‘commercial-grade’ access. What does that mean? Well, in simple terms, it means trust and quality – that there is a respectable level of credibility, uptime and performance associated with the access point. Commercial-grade doesn’t mean ‘expensive’. In fact, over 21,000 of our commercial-grade access points are FREE!
Why such a big focus on commercial-grade? Well, in an effort to preserve data roaming spend, would you want to inadvertently connect your enterprise and employees to ‘Jackals’ hotspot? Or, what about a hotspot belonging to an obscure ‘numbered company’? Who owns these hotspots anyway? Are they involved in a credit card theft ring? Identify theft? Are they criminals or can they be trusted? How would you know? Hence the importance of the iPass commercial-grade footprint, provisioned by trusted network suppliers.
There are other nascent hotspot aggregators that offer a larger number of access points by allowing individuals and home users to ‘opt’ their Wi-Fi access point into the network for a benefit – whether for money or otherwise. And the reason you want to offer up all the data on your laptop, smart phone and tablet to these home-gamers is…? Yeah, I couldn’t think of one either.
At iPass, we believe the future of Wi-Fi network provisioning and ownership lies with carriers and mobile network operators as Wi-Fi becomes an increasingly important aspect of our mobile data fabric. It’s no longer the fringe network; Wi-Fi is now an essential and integrated component of 3/4G mobility and data roaming.
That’s why iPass will continue to work with carriers and mobile operators, adopting their trusted networks and leave the home-gamer hotspot aggregation business to other players who are still wallowing in the fringe, and not doing business on the trusted network.
Why commercial-grade Wi-Fi matters >>
Consider these facts:
