Smartphone users to benefit from UK WiFi hotspot boom

Paul Nesbitt

The number of WiFi hotspots in the UK will treble from around today's 10,000 public WiFi hotspots to around 30,000 by 2012, driven by increased demand from smartphone users.

That's the prediction of Owen Geddes, CEO of Freerunner, a young WiFi company, which already operates 1,200 hotspots in the UK, and which is gearing up to add 400 more per month. Freerunner intends to run 10,000 by 2012.

BT operates 4,000 hotspots in the UK and the telecoms giant said that it has experienced a doubling in WiFi usage during 2009.

And it's smartphone users who are a key driver in the rising use of WiFi hotspots. With networks like O2 admitting that iPhone data usage has put a strain on its networks, users are increasingly turning to WiFi as an alternative to creaking 3G networks.

'The iPhone launch made a big difference. Before that, hotspots were pretty empty. All of a sudden there was an enormous surge in use,' said Geddes.