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FON, begun in <‾xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags' />Spain a year ago, aims to create unified Wi-Fi coverage by selling memberships.  The bandwagon came to Hong Kong last week, led by regional partner Outblaze, a local email and messaging firm.<‾xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />

The idea is you buy a router and add it to the FON network, and in return get free Wi-Fi roaming wherever you go. There are other options for those who want to sell a Wi-Fi service or become a guest user ($3 a day), but most members join on the you-use-mine-I-use-yours basis.

There's a lot to admire about FON. In 12 months it has signed up more than 130,000 members, mostly in Europe, the US and Korea. It's also reeled in some smart investors, like Skype, Google and Sequoia.

"The mission is to unify global Wi-Fi into one business," said Outblaze CEO Yat Siu.

In its first week in Hong Kong FON gained 1,400 members. The company maps the spread of FON on their Web site at http://maps.fon.com/, where you can see a lot of base stations around Hong Kong island and a smear of unified green around Central and SoHo.

FON Hong Kong has begun with a router offer of just $5 (HK$39). Next on the roadmap is Taiwan in December, followed by Singapore. At some point in the future is China but, as Yat Siu mildly puts it, that's a "very different market".

Crowded space

The problem for FON is it is contesting a very crowded space. Between DSL, cable, 3G/3.5G and hotspots, there's a lot of broadband coverage already in Asian cities.

Logically then, it's aimed at those who aren't satisfied by those options, namely business travelers, geeks and early adopters, and broadband addicts.

The key for FON is the value-adds and the devices. As Siu says, "it's not just about the laptop - it's the applications."

For example, FON has just bought Gspace, which makes network storage devices, and of course there's Skype.

One thing the market has going for it is a growing proliferation of Wi-Fi devices. Just about every Nokia phone these days has a Wi-Fi radio, as do Nintendo consoles. An increasing number of Wi-Fi clients are available - some (like Barablu) run on any of the handset platforms.

For all that, the business plan is a little unclear. The market seems by definition niche; the big attractions are surely free voice and business traveler email. Neither is going to generate much cash, and it's not clear how much consumers will be willing to stump up for the value-adds like storage, unified comms and all the rest.

Much also depends on the pricing of the impending HSDPA services, although it is a fair bet that mobile operators will charge as much as they can get away with.

Perhaps there's a natural tension in community-based initiatives, in trying to deliver both an affordable service and a profit at the same time.

In any case, we're going to see a much more intensive deployment of Wi-Fi in the CBDs of Asian cities. That in itself might be worth the effort.

Robert Clark is editor-at-large for Telecom Asia rclark@protocolresearch.com