The prevalence of Wi-Fi in Africa and around the world is increasing, with more and more mobile operators looking to deploy it as part of their overall networks, according to Ruckus Wireless, Inc. , an exhibitor at this year’s AfricaCom, running from 12 - 14 November 2013 at the CTICC, in Cape Town, South Africa. As the role for Wi-Fi in mobile networks becomes clearer, and carrier-grade Wi-Fi solutions such as Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi become more readily available, the monetisation options are becoming clearer as well.
“The vast majority of the world is still waiting for broadband service. In the well-populated parts of developed countries, existing fixed phone and infrastructure has made broadband relatively easy to offer, and availability is now very high,” says Michael Fletcher, sales director for Ruckus Wireless sub-Saharan Africa. “Everywhere else, though, especially across regions in Africa, the high costs of current options, such as deploying new fixed infrastructure or large-scale macro-cellular wireless models like WiMAX, are big barriers to further broadband subscriber growth, yet the demand for Wi-Fi is there, and that’s where we come in.”
According to the Broadband Commission’s ‘State of Broadband 2013’ report, mobile broadband is the fastest growing technology in human history. Mobile broadband subscriptions, which allow users to access the web via smartphones, tablets and Wi-Fi-connected laptops, are growing at a rate of 30% per year. In fact, by the end of 2013 there will be more than three times as many mobile broadband connections as there are conventional fixed broadband subscriptions, with 2.1 billion mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide, which is equivalent to one third of the total global stock of mobile cellular subscriptions.
