Wi-Fi hot spots will become as irrelevant as telephone booths, according to Ericsson Chief Marketing Officer Johan Bergendahl in Network World.
Mobile broadband is growing faster than mobile or fixed telephony ever did, Bergendahl said. As more people start using mobile broadband, hot spots will no longer be needed.
In countries such as Austria, Denmark and Sweden, the average price for a mobile broadband subscription is only €20 ($31) per month, Bergendahl said.
Also, support for HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), favored by Ericsson, is being built into more and more laptops. “In a few years, it [HSPA] will be as common as Wi-Fi is today,” Bergendahl said.
Can femtocells take the place of WiFi hotspots? In your dreams, Ericsson:
- Wi-Fi is often available free.
- “Unlimited” data plans like Verizon’s are not.
- Femtocells let one subscriber extend coverage indoors; not to dozens of non-subscribers.
- Femtocell hotspots cost more than WiFi ($200 vrs $50)
- Femtocells are slower than DSL/Cable Modems (which they need).
- Femtocells require expensive cellular data cards and lack universal support.
- Cellular capacity and synchronous infrastructure are more expensive to build out.
- One word: Intel.
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