Wireless Local Networks Will Be Used By 21m Americans By 2007
Emarketer has compiled an analysis of forecasts for the growth of public access wireless local area networks (WLAN) in the US. WLANs allow mobile users to connect ‘wirelessly’ to a local network – such as a school educational system for example.
Forecasts from Analysys show that 21 million people in the US will be using WLANs by 2007. The most common place for WLANs to be installed is currently in hotels, which provide around 1.67 million access points across the country. By 2007, cafés and restaurants will come to dominate, says Analysys.
| Public WLAN locations in US, by location (millions) | ||||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| Hotels | 1.68 | 3.38 | 5.10 | 6.83 | 8.58 | 10.35 |
| Airports | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.09 |
| Train stations | 0.01 | 0.25 | 0.38 | 0.51 | 0.64 | 0.78 |
| Conference facilities | 0.05 | 0.35 | 1.02 | 1.70 | 2.38 | 3.07 |
| Educational establishments | 0.36 | 0.50 | 0.92 | 1.34 | 1.77 | 2.20 |
| Cafés and restaurants | 0.40 | 1.99 | 4.99 | 8.03 | 11.09 | 14.18 |
| Public spaces | 0.10 | 0.50 | 0.76 | 1.01 | 1.27 | 1.54 |
| Corporate offices | 1.00 | 2.51 | 3.79 | 5.07 | 6.37 | 7.68 |
| Other | 0.15 | 0.75 | 0.95 | 1.14 | 1.34 | 1.54 |
| Source: Analysys, February 2002 | ||||||
Emarketer compares the Analysys predictions to others made by Venture Development Corp, which last year estimated that the wireless LAN market in North America (not just the US) would generate approximately $1.72 billion by 2004, as shown.
