Australian Wireless LAN and Hotspot 2004-2008 Forecast and Analysis: Cutting the Cord

This IDC study examines the Australian WLAN market by looking at sales and vendor shares of the WLAN hardware market, enterprise WLAN usage and the public WLAN ? or hotspot ? market. "Momentum in the Australian WLAN market continued to build up from all quarters last year, with usage in the enterprise showing a promising future," observes Warren Chaisatien, IDC Australia's senior analyst for Mobile and Wireless Solutions. "Nonetheless, the hotspot market remains nascent with service providers still largely operating in the 'land grab' mode and very little revenue to go around."

IDC believes cellular carriers should assist companies with corporate WLAN initiatives and offer hotspot as a complementary service, while DSL and cable modem service providers can bundle hotspot with their consumer high-speed Internet access offerings. To make hotspot service more practical and intuitive, access charges must come down and universal roaming and billing arrangements must be struck.