As employees bring in large numbers of WiFi-enabled devices, such as tablets, onto enterprise networks, pressure is added to service providers' WiFi network capacity.
In order to meet the growing demand, Ruckus Wireless says WiFi service providers will need to expand capacity on their networks this year.
Michael Fletcher, Ruckus Wireless' sales director for sub-Saharan Africa, says: “Based on the accelerating activity of the past six months, the industry can expect to see rapid expansion of WiFi networks worldwide.”
He adds that this will open up new markets for service providers to offer high-bandwidth services.
According to Fletcher, this will become apparent as more wireless operators offload data traffic onto WiFi networks, and WiFi hotspots become universally accessible, thanks to the adoption of the 802.11u standard.
Ruckus Wireless estimates that service providers will spend up to $1 billion worldwide on WiFi network expansion to support the need for greater capacity.
In addition, Ruckus Wireless predicts that the number of WiFi connections will equal or surpass all other type of network connectivity in 2012, and that WiFi range and speeds will double by the end of the year.
Investment bank JP Morgan forecasts that shipments of tablets will soar to 99.3 million units in 2012; which, coupled with the rising sales of smartphones, will result in the introduction of more wireless service providers. It will also mean that as more enterprise employees bring in WiFi-enabled devices, demand for WiFi will increase.
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