The recent announcement by the government to provide free Wi-Fi on Indian Railways is expected to significantly propel adoption of Wi-Fi technology in the near future
Long gone are the days when people used to sit in front of their office or home desktops and respond to emails and other professional and personal matters of immediate attention. Devices are becoming increasingly small, smart and mobile and people want to use them for entertainment and work anywhere and anytime. The movement, called bring your own device?or BYOD?is taking hold.
An efficient and capacity-rich technology called Wi-Fi has been connecting the globe together? both consumer and enterprise users?for a while now, and in 2013, it is set to grow exponentially as it is increasingly being recognised as an enabler for next-generation mobile networks. ?With the growth of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to continue throughout the year, and new trends like BYOD becoming more prevalent, the adoption of Wi-Fi will certainly experience manifold increase in the future,? says Sudarshan Boosupalli, general manager?India & Saarc operations, Ruckus Wireless.
This Sunnyvale, California-based mobile internet infrastructure firm has been steadily making inroads in the Indian communications market with its innovative products. Ruckus Wi-Fi is widely adopted by service providers, higher education institutions, luxury hotels, and modern hospitals. Some of the key customers include Delhi University, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Seven Hills Hospitals, Lovely Professional University, NIIT University, Oberoi Hotels, Leona Resorts, Crowne Plaza, New Delhi, JW Marriott, Mumbai, among others.
In January 2012, Ruckus Wireless also set-up it?s first R&D centre in Bangalore, joining company?s four other R&D centres in Taiwan (Taipei), China (Shenzhen), Israel (TelAviv), and California (Sunnyvale). According to Infonetics research (May, 2012) on both the carrier Wi-Fi and small cell markets, Ruckus was second to Cisco in both carrier Wi-Fi revenue and unit shipments for 2011.
According to Sudarshan, Wi-Fi is increasingly seen as the most viable solution for carriers to address the tremendous spike in mobile data traffic?particularly within high-density areas. As per a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on mobile internet usage, India is expected to have close to 165 million mobile internet users by March 2015, up from 87.1 million in December 2012?a huge increase? as people are increasingly accessing the internet through mobile devices and dongles.
Sudarshan feels that the recent announcement by the government to provide free Wi-Fi on Indian Railways is expected to significantly propel adoption of Wi-Fi technology in the near future. However, he reckons that for the initiative to be a success, the government will need to provide significant bandwidth and infrastructural support in order to ensure a hassle-free user experience. ?If it is executed successfully, it should have an overspill effect, with users demanding similar Wi-Fi access wherever they travel?cinemas, restaurants, malls, etc, which will further exert already overloaded mobile networks and make the case for incorporating Wi-Fi that much more compelling and necessary,? he says.
Initially, Wi-Fi was seen as a complementing technology helping in data offloading and capacity injection. However, today it extends beyond that as network operators are looking to further integrate Wi-Fi into their overall operations to improve both their internal processes and external services to their customers. The explosion in the number of internet connections is mostly attributed to the exponential increase in adoption of tablets, smartphones, phablets and various other hand held devices in Indian market.
As per recent IDC?s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 2013 will be the first year where smartphones will outsell basic feature phones in the mobile market and will account for 50.1% of all mobile phones. Smartphone sales globally are expected to exceed 900 million units in 2013, with countries like India, China and Brazil fueling this demand. Also, considering the continued influx of Wi-Fi only enabled devices, there will be considerable pressure on mobile service providers to support data-hungry users.
According to Sudarshan, the communications market in India is seeing a growing progression towards data services instead of voice services. As per Huawei India and Ernst & Young?s report ? Connected possibilities: Innovation, Integration and Inclusiveness, revenues generated from cellular carrier data services are estimated to grow by more than 400%, from the reported $3.9 billion in 2011 to $19.3 billion by 2020. Whereas, the revenues generated from voice services are likely to witness a decline from $34.7 billion in 2011 to $31.5 billion by 2020. These figures say a lot about the need for adoption of Wi-Fi services across geographies and platforms, feels the Ruckus general manager.
Increasing capacity in very high-density venues such as metro train stations, university campuses, stadiums, airports, etc, continues to remain a challenge as operators are fighting to improve bandwidth in their overcrowded network areas. Carriers are using small cell deployments to provide better service in these locations, but it?s not always enough to meet demand. ?Cellular operators can meet expectations without any heavy capex requirements and improve the quality of the user experience by leveraging and integrating Wi-Fi into their networks,? feels Sudarshan. It?s an increasingly practical technology which can meet all of their service requirements and handle the increased data traffic efficiently.
For the customer this means no cellular usage charges and an end to irritating wiring. And for enterprises, it will become difficult to justify making an investment in wired technology when wireless will get you everything you need for less money and increased flexibility.