SMS the language of 6 billion people

SMS: the language of 6 billion people
Generation Free
Connecting the world
The growth of Wi-Fi has lagged a few years behind the growth of mobile devices, but has been no less
rapid and global. Wi-Fi really took off in the mainstream at the end of the 1990s, and now Wi-Fi is used
to access the Internet by billions of people every day. In 2015 there are now:
‣ 50 million public Wi-Fi hotspots around the world
‣ Surveys suggest that over 75% of homes in countries such as the US and UK now have Wi-Fi
routers in use
‣ There are billions of Wi-Fi enabled consumer devices in use around the world.
Over the next few years, the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices will exceed the number of people on
Earth; the number of public hotspots will grow to hundreds of millions; and more than half the world’s
mobile data traffic will shift on to Wi-Fi for network access and backhaul. Even mobile voice traffic is
starting to shift to Wi-Fi, with mobile carriers in many countries, including the US and the UK, now
offering Wi-Fi calling services to their customers, which offer advantages in places with poor mobile
network coverage, such as indoor and underground locations.
Free Wi-Fi everywhere
Free public Wi-Fi access is being built across Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Seoul in South Korea, Taiwan,
most of Central London, Mountain View in California, Mysore in India, Paris, Perth and many more
cities around the world.
In towns and cities the world over, in colleges, shopping malls, libraries, offices, retail stores,
restaurants and bars, Wi-Fi continues to proliferate as a standard ‘expected feature’ – in one survey,
60% of people said they couldn’t go 1 day without Wi-Fi. In another survey in the hotel business, 94%
of respondents said Wi-Fi was an essential amenity when booking hotel accommodations. Wi-Fi is big
business in the 21 st Century, and it is growing at a fearsome pace. It is entirely realistic to expect Wi-Fi
technology to offer an Internet connection that covers ‘most’ of the urban human population in a
decade’s time. Homes, leisure venues, restaurants, trains, shops, offices and public spaces may all
offer free Internet access.
As Wi-Fi becomes a cut-price marketing
tool, increasingly available openly for free,
or in exchange for nothing more than a
name and an email address, connectivity
to the World Wide Web in urban areas is
increasingly open, free and unmonitored.
Wi-Fi went through a phase of being a
powerful service differentiator. But not any
more, now it’s expected as standard.
Looking for somewhere to grab lunch?
‘You want me to eat my lunch here? Give
me free Wi-Fi.’ It’s no longer a bonus; it’s
become the standard, the expected norm.
If there is no Wi-Fi, I’m not even going to
sit down and order lunch.
24 © 2015, Portio Research. All Rights Reserved