Analysis from WiFi specialist iPass offers a rare deep-dive into the global growth of WiFi over the next four years.
The WiFi Growth Map is an interactive tool with a slider that allows users to see how the growth of WiFi will happen on each continent until 2018 - effectively revealing that the planet will have one WiFi hotspot for every eight humans.
While Europe and Russia currently enjoy the highest number of overall commercial and residential hotspots, it's Australia and Oceania that will see the largest percentage growth in WiFi.
By 2018, that continent will have a 10,822% increase in the number of hotspots. Africa and the Middle East will have a 8,859% increase, and North America will see a 6,371% increase. Europe and Latin America, come in at 547% and 2,222% respectively. These numbers show that even developed areas have a ways to go to extend WiFi coverage.
The continents with the most projected airport hotspots will be Asia (with 1,815 connected airports) and Europe (with 2,202). The research also suggested that other areas of transportation will see increased connectivity:
Wi-Fi is also on the move; becoming available on 60% of planes and 11% of trains by 2018. This compares to only 16% of planes and 3% of trains equipped with Wi-Fi in 2014. Community ‘homespot’ public Wi-Fi hotspots will see the most explosive growth, rising from just under 40 million in 2014 to over 325 million in 2018.
Overall, the world will see a 1,184% growth in WiFi hotspots from 2013 to 2018. The near-ubiquity of WiFi will be a boon to mobile, as the majority of consumers will be tied to smartphones and other mobile devices for shopping and everyday purchases. The ability to enjoy rapid speeds while traveling also liberates app developers to offer more intensive bandwidth uses within their applications.
Peruse the WiFi Growth Map here.