By Telecom
Lead Team: Boingo Wireless, a provider of software and services worldwide,
has entered into an agreement with Cafaro to manage and operate its retail
Wi-Fi networks in the developer’s three busiest shopping centers.
Boingo
will install Wi-Fi networks in the Spotsylvania Towne Centre (Fredericksburg,
Va.), the Eastwood Mall (Niles, Ohio) and the South Hill Mall (Puyallup,
Wash.).
Everyone in
the mall today seems to have a device in-hand, whether they’re actively
shopping, doing business with tenants or just watching the world walk by.
Boingo’s valuable experience in managing Wi-Fi in large venues will help us
deliver more value to the shopping experience at our properties,” said Anthony
Cafaro, Jr., co-president of Cafaro.
With the
agreement, Cafaro’s shopping center guests will be able to access Boingo Wi-Fi
on any Wi-Fi-enabled device – including their smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Boingo’s
roaming partners, such as Skype and Verizon, will also be able to access the
networks easily.
Consumers
increasingly expect that Wi-Fi will be available when they pull out their
smartphone in public places like shopping malls and restaurants. With capped
data plans on their cellphones, they continue to look for ways to maintain
their digital lifestyle without incurring exorbitant data overage fees,” said
Joe DeStasio, business development manager for Boingo Wireless.
With the
addition of these three shopping centers with 25 million annual guests, Boingo
now manages or operates the Wi-Fi offering at 33 malls operated by Cafaro, Caruso,
Glimcher, Urban Retail and Westfield, with combined annual foot traffic of 290
million people.
The company
said that it also has secured future rights to an additional 10 centers with
another 65 million annual visitors.
A few months
back, Boingo Wireless entered into an agreement with Skyrove to offer Boingo customers access
to an additional 600 hotspots throughout South Africa, bringing the total
number of Boingo hotspots in the country to more than 2,000.
