AT&T sees massive increase in Wi-Fi connections

AT&T reports that the number of Wi-Fi connections in the first quarter of 2009 is three times that in the first quarter of 2008 (10.5 million versus 3.4 million). The popularity of the iPhone (which is exclusive to AT&T), as well as Wi-Fi enabled Blackberrys, netbooks and laptops, are driving Wi-Fi use. AT&T is also encouraging its subscribers to use Wi-Fi by offering free Wi-Fi to iPhone users at Starbucks cafes. The company bought Wi-Fi operator, Wayport, last year.

AT&T customers have criticized the frequent cellular network outages, in particular during Macworld in San Francisco last January. The number of iPhone customers trying to use the 3G network at the same time was simply too much for the network to handle. Like many telecom operators here and abroad, AT&T benefits from demand for wireless service, but it must meet that demand by upgrading its cellular and Wi-Fi networks.

As more people walk around with portable devices that can connect to a Wi-Fi network (e.g. netbooks, iPhones, iPod Touch), we will see even more demand for Wi-Fi not just in homes, cafes and offices, but everywhere people can simply take out their device to look for information, download email, search on a map, etc.