Carrier-grade Wi-Fi hotspots will grow to 72 percent of overall Wi-Fi hotspots by 2018 from 14 percent today, said a survey by Amdocs.
By 2016, 77 percent of service providers plan to use homespots, where the user agrees to leave the hotspot open for use by passers-by, as compared with 30 percent currently.
85 percent telecom operators plan to invest in carrier-grade Wi-Fi by 2016.
The Amdocs survey said MSOs (Multiple Service Operators) see carrier-grade Wi-Fi providing better positioning in mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deals, supporting quad-play offerings and wireless services, while MNOs plan to use carrier-grade Wi-Fi to broaden their networks and offload radio access network (RAN) traffic.
61 percent of MSOs and 70 percent of MNOs will source Wi-Fi hotspots from third parties to benefit from shared cost savings and accelerated deployment against 45 percent today.
65 percent of respondents placed the lack of strong network planning and management tools in their top three risk factors for investing in carrier-grade Wi-Fi, with 65 percent stating that their existing tools will not extend well to Wi-Fi without additional investment.
The Amdocs commissioned research was conducted between August and October 2014, with Wi-Fi managers from 40 service providers in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.
