WLAN Market Still Strong in Europe and the USA

Growth of the public wireless local area networking (P-WLAN) market is set to continue in both the USA and Western Europe, according to a new report published this week by Analysys. This growth is being driven by business travellers' appetite for cheap and fast remote access to the Internet.

The report, Public WLAN Access in Western Europe and the USA: market
analysis and forecasts, anticipates that revenue will grow from USD33.4
million in 2002 (USD10.9 million in Western Europe and USD22.5 million in
the USA) to USD5.5 billion by 2007 (USD2.64 billion in Western Europe and
just under USD2.8 billion in the USA).

Hotspots, which are currently being installed in airports, hotels,
conference facilities, cafés, restaurants and rail stations, are estimated
to grow from 4800 in 2002 (1400 in Western Europe and 3400 in the USA) to
57,000 by 2007 (30,000 in Western Europe and 27,000 in the USA) (Charts are
available to journalists on request).

"Whilst take-up of public WLAN services has been slower than we anticipated,
it still represents a significant opportunity for operators and other
service providers," said Maja Kecman, main author of the report. "In both
Europe and the USA, telecoms operators have shown interest in the WLAN
market as a complement to their existing networks, but have been cautious
about investing in an uncertain market where there are still technological
and regulatory issues to be resolved."

Market uncertainty is compounded by the fact that no single business model
has yet emerged, say the authors. The report outlines five main business
models, the most common of which involves the hotspot site owner and
operator (or wireless Internet service provider (WISP)) acting as the main
players in the P-WLAN value chain.

"We expect the dominant business models to evolve significantly in the next
three or four years," said San Francisco-based report co-author, Monica
Paolini. "By 2007, the US market will be characterised by a non-integrated
value chain, with retail service providers not having exclusive control of
the network infrastructure. In Europe, we expect fixed and mobile operators
to prevail as they are able to leverage their existing customer base and
backhaul agreements more effectively."

Written by Maja Kecman with Monica Paolini and Ross Pow, Public WLAN Access
in Western Europe and the USA: market analysis and forecasts evaluates the
state of the P-WLAN markets in Western Europe and the USA, according to
progress in the areas of network coverage and roaming, technology standards,
regulation, pricing and service offerings, and business models. The report
also includes forecasts of the size and value of the market across Western
Europe (specifically France, Germany, Sweden, and the UK) and in the USA.

This Press Release Sponsored by AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES

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