Page 28 - Mobile World Daily - Day 2

FEATURED INTERVIEW | DEVICESCAPE

Dave Fraser,
CEO of Devicescape

Advances in Wi-Fi
Provisioning Enable New
Disruptive Cellular Services

The spread of 4G LTE networks and the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets have spurred consumer demand for increasing amounts of mobile data.
Now Internet companies such as Google and cable operators are looking to provide access services to meet the increasing appetite for wireless connectivity.
And they plan to use Wi-Fi to help them do so. Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape, which provides managed access to a virtual network of public amenity Wi-
Fi hotspots, tells Mobile World Daily how changes in Wi-Fi provisioning are creating new disruptive wireless business models and how mobile network
operators can use these forces to their advantage.

MOBILE WORLD DAILY (MWD): Wi-Fi Calling on selected smartphones, and These developments also show that hotels, 71% of stadiums and convention
WE SAW SOME WI-FI AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. and EE in the disruption in the market is coming from centres, 72% of museums, 68% of cafes and
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM BIG NAMES UK have followed suit. heavyweight brands as well as small start-ups. bars, and 69% of fast food outlets. It’s a huge
LIKE APPLE AND T-MOBILE LAST And a company like Google is clearly in a resource.
YEAR. HOW WOULD YOU 2014 was also the year of the Wi-Fi First position to subsidize a low price point with
CHARACTERISE 2014 IN TERMS OF WI- movement, which is a huge disruptive revenue from other services. It’s also highly flexible, which means
FI AND ITS PLACE IN THE INDUSTRY? development. In Wi-Fi First we see new operators can use it to meet a range of needs.
models for wireless connectivity provision So the potential threat is substantial. But Some mobile operators are still interested in
Dave Fraser (DF): 2014 saw the beginning of being exploited by new players in the market. I the impact it has on mobile operators will Wi-Fi for capacity offload, some for coverage
a shift that will result in Wi-Fi becoming a think this movement will further showcase the ultimately depend on how they react. The expansion. For others the focus is on ensuring
mainstream part of the connectivity mix strengths of Wi-Fi, increasing its appeal to benefits of Wi-Fi—particularly public Wi- there’s a backup in place when the cellular
employed by the majority of mobile operators. existing mobile operators yet further. So Wi-Fi Fi—are no less available to mobile operators network drops in performance, maybe
As LTE was coming online, many voices in the grew in importance for everyone last year. than to this new breed of competitor. The because of network load, or because the user
industry were saying that it would kill the need extension of indoor coverage at a great price is indoors and out of range. More advanced
for Wi-Fi, but that didn’t happen. Certainly the MWD: DO CABLEVISION'S point, the ability to offer connectivity operators are looking at an Always Best
introduction of LTE has led to a huge increase 'FREEWHEEL' SERVICE AND appropriate to the user’s immediate Connected approach that moves the user
in the amount of cellular data that smartphone REPORTS THAT GOOGLE PLANS TO circumstances, these are service between LTE and Wi-Fi according to
users consume. But over the same period there GO AHEAD WITH AN MVNO SERVICE enhancements that mobile operators can whichever network can provide the best
has also been enormous growth in the amount THAT WILL COUPLE CELLULAR AND easily effect with Wi-Fi. connectivity at all times. Amenity Wi-Fi has
of data consumed over Wi-Fi; in fact, Wi-Fi W-FI POSE A SIGNIFICANT THREAT operators covered in all of these situations.
now accounts for the majority of smartphone TO OPERATORS? So we expect that the real impact of these
data consumption. disruptions will be that the clear majority of More broadly, mobile operators need to
DF: The potential of the threat cannot be players in this market will start to think of the move from seeing themselves as cellular
When John Legere [CEO of T-Mobile USA] underestimated. Consider what these moves service they provide in terms of connectivity network providers towards seeing themselves
announced his Wi-Fi Un-leashed plan last tell us: First, they remind us that mobile first, and underlying technology second. as mobile connectivity providers, able to use
year, he compared it to adding millions of cell operators don’t have exclusivity over the the most cost-effective and efficient networks
towers to his network in a single day. It was provision of smartphone connectivity. In the MWD: HOW CAN OPERATORS USE available. Smartphone data consumption is
an acknowledgment that the delivery of last few months at Devicescape we have had PUBLIC WI-FI TO THEIR ADVANTAGE growing fast and the vast majority of usage
coverage and connectivity is more important just as many enquiries from newcomers as IN AN INCREASINGLY COMPETITIVE occurs indoors, where it is more challenging
than the means by which they are delivered. from traditional mobile operators. Second, ENVIRONMENT? for operators to provide the same quality of
they show that pure cellular isn’t the only way cellular coverage as they do outside.
It’s also true that Wi-Fi Calling generated a of providing that connectivity. These new DF: It’s important to understand the scale
lot of headlines, particularly the players and others like them are starting with of this resource. The growth of public Wi-Fi, As T-Mobile has shown, operators can take
announcement from Apple. The adoption of a clean slate, rethinking the concept of particularly what we call ‘amenity Wi-Fi’, advantage of changes in the public Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi calling, by operators worldwide as well wireless service. They all seem to conclude offered by businesses to their customers for landscape and technology developments
as Apple, reflected this recognition of the that providing a total smartphone connectivity free, is a global industry megatrend. Look at such as Wi-Fi Calling, to quickly ramp up
importance of Wi-Fi in a changing wireless experience requires both cellular and Wi-Fi. the U.S. as an example: Free amenity Wi-Fi in data service coverage and meet latent
environment. T-Mobile and Sprint now allow the U.S. is available at 99% of airports, 95% of customer demand. And it can be done cost
effectively.

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