Posted: 21st Feb, 2005 By: MarkJ
Most research suggests that public broadband wireless hotspot (Wi-Fi) prices must come down in order to spur uptake. Sadly BT's head of wireless broadband has stated this as being unlikely for 2005:
BT said take-up of its Wi-Fi service, Openzone, increased by 400% last year and was growing by 20% a month. But the firm does not expect prices to fall in the short term.
In an interview with Computer Weekly, Chris Clark, chief executive of wireless broadband at BT, said, "I dont think you will necessarily see massive movement of the raw price [of Wi-Fi networks]. What you will see and what you are beginning to see is Wi-Fi tariffs being bundled."Its worth pointing out that this is not an uncommon position for BT; in fact many of the operators historic price cuts have been driven in response to cuts made by rivals first. Watch the competition.