Wi-Fi for Operators
Now more than ever, Wi-Fi is a must-have feature on handsets. Wi-Fi's advanced performance and wide availability in homes, schools, enterprises and hotspots are key drivers of global user affinity for the technology. Your subscribers want handsets with all the latest features, and Wi-Fi is one of the most widely demanded differentiators for smartphones and feature phones.
Research from ABI and the Wi-Fi Alliance shows just how compelling the presence of Wi-Fi on a smartphone can be when users are making purchase decisions. A survey conducted by ABI Research found that 77 percent of users of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones are completely or very satisfied with their device - a higher rate of satisfaction than that reported by users of mobile phones without Wi-Fi. Seventy-four percent of people who have Wi-Fi on their mobile phone use it, and 77 percent say they will seek Wi-Fi in their next phone as well.
As a complement to cellular technologies, Wi-Fi enhances the user experience for countless applications including Web surfing, games, sharing photos, and downloading music and video. Wi-Fi helps carriers manage valuable licensed spectrum, entice new subscribers, and reduce turnover - all of which are more important than ever in the current economic environment.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint™
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint™ revolutionizes Wi-Fi hotspot networks by streamlining network discovery, sign-on and authentication processes. The industry-wide solution and certification program from Wi-Fi Alliance also delivers WPA2™ security protection to user connections.
As mobile users continue to increase their use of data-intensive applications, Passpoint eases service provider data traffic offload to Wi-Fi, enabling providers to leverage the ubiquity and performance of Wi-Fi to deliver exciting services to subscribers. With more than 1 million hotspots available today, growing to exceed 5 million in 2015 (Informa Telecoms & Media), Wi-Fi has become an important component in service provider networks.
Passpoint is an important building block to deliver on the vision of inter-provider Wi-Fi roaming worldwide. Passpoint-certified access points and devices contain the technology needed for service providers to realize the opportunity of cellular-like roaming. Wi-Fi Alliance collaboration with Wireless Broadband Alliance, GSMA, and other organizations is helping to ensure that the component parts of the vision are harmonized.
Learn more about Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint.
Connect with the Wi-Fi Alliance. Join today.
Wi-Fi Alliance membership is open to service providers - and numerous operator companies from around the world participate in the Alliance to help shape our testing programs to ensure that the unique needs of carriers are met. The Operator Marketing Task Group provides a forum where Wi-Fi Alliance members can develop certifications that align with operators' Wi-Fi service deployment needs. This group also provides an opportunity to incorporate end-user feedback in order to enhance the Wi-Fi experience and an opportunity to maintain links with other standard organization's processes and certification levels.
The benefits of Wi-Fi Alliance membership extend well beyond participating in the industry's only certification program. Learn more about Wi-Fi Alliance membership or contact us.