Wi-Fi has become a key “access” mechanism for smartphone users, not simply a “local distribution” medium. In 2015, 51 percent of mobile data traffic was delivered using the fixed network, using Wi-Fi or femtocell access.
That was not always the case. Traditionally, the boundary between the public network and all private networks was a device such as a router or some other network interface unit. But public Wi-Fi hotspots, and in some markets cable TV “homespots,” have changed all that.
This is more than a mere difference in technology function. Wi-Fi as an access mechanism represents a potentially-different business model.
When Wi-Fi is simply an in-building signal distribution mechanism, the service provider model is “service revenue to a location.”
When public Wi-Fi is supported, the revenue model can be third party advertising, venue sales or incremental access revenues.
In many new cases, Wi-Fi becomes the actual “access” method. That can be the case when bandwidth is delivered to a location that, in turn, uses Wi-Fi or a mobile network protocol as the access interface.
In other words, a fixed wireless, satellite or other connection can be used as the public network link to a central location, with local devices connected using Wi-Fi or mobile radios, each representing a discrete subscription and customer relationship.
The Google Project Link platform uses Wi-Fi as a last-mile access media, not simply an in-building distribution media, for example.
That approach--using a platform in a new way, not originally intended--is a recurring theme in communications. Cable TV never was envisioned as a general-purpose telecom network. Wi-Fi was never created as an access method for public networks.
Unlicensed spectrum was not seen as a platform for general-purpose communications network access or transport.
But cable TV homespot networks are seen a primary means for reducing the cost of mobile network access, while Google and others see venue Wi-Fi in the same way.
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