Everywhere from shopping centers and parklands to airports and train stations, public Wi-Fi hotspots are multiplying across the Asia-Pacific region.
Often free to use, these hotspots provide high-speed internet access to people going about their professional and personal lives. They’re changing the way many think about connectivity.
In Singapore, for example, the Infocomm Development Authority has established Wireless@SG using infrastructure provided by a number of telecommunications carriers. The service covers large areas of the city and was recently extended to include many MRT stations.
Likewise, in Hong Kong, the state-provided GovWiFi service is available in many public places. Started in 2008, the project is part of a long-term strategy to turn Hong Kong into a wireless city.
In Australia, Telstra recently announced plans to roll out 500,000 hotspots around the country by mid-2015. Many will be located in or near existing public payphone stations.
Clearly, everybody benefits from free public Wi-Fi. For workers, it gives the ability to remain connected to office applications and data. For consumers, it provides a simple way to check email or update social media services without having to worry about running up a high mobile data bill.
For carriers, migrating data traffic onto Wi-Fi hotspots (and therefore fixed lines) takes some of the pressure off increasingly congested cellular mobile networks.