1. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen1 WLAN Operator Cases T-109.551 Research Seminar on Telecommunications Business II Riku Honkanen 26.3.2003

2. Riku Honkanen2 Agenda Introduction to WLAN operations Competing Technologies Operator Cases Problems Future Conclusions

3. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen3 Introduction to WLAN Operations IEEE 802.11b is most used Offering wireless Internet access Mostly small local operators Few bigger operators with low profile WLAN services Base stations are inexpensive No license costs

4. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen4 Competing Technologies Wireless data technologies 3G mobile networks like UMTS High-speed fixed line Internet access xDSL techniques Cable modem

5. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen5 Case Studies (1/3) Jippii Jippii Freedom (2000-2002) Home users as target Sonera Sonera wGate (2000-) Mobile business users as target ~160 hotspots

6. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen6 Case Studies (2/3) Telia Telia HomeRun (1999-) Operations in Scandinavian countries ~400 hotspots in Sweden MobileStar (1996-2001) US operator Over 2000 hotspots Now owned by T-Mobile

7. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen7 Case Studies (3/3)

8. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen8 Problems Lack of roaming Customer needs Billing Security Physical obstacles

9. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen9 Future Use of WLAN increases Operator opportunities are however uncertain Possibly complementary with UMTS or some other technology Hotspots seem to be the future approach

10. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen10 Conclusions Operators’ have had only little success with WLAN services At least roaming is needed for interesting customers Only chance for the operators is to use WLAN as a complementary service

11. 26.3.2003Riku Honkanen11 Thank you!