Less than two years after its commercial rollout, wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, has already made a ?breakthrough? in the local computing market, industry players agreed.

Wi-Fi allows wireless access to the Internet via the 2.4 GHz (gigahertz) frequency band. Utilizing the 802.11b protocol, users with Wi-Fi-enabled devices can seamlessly connect to the Net through access points called ?hotspots.?

?Although mobile computing has not yet reached the level that the mobile phone industry has been enjoying, it has already broken through the ?non-techie? side of the consumer market,? said Intel Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag. Intel created the Centrino mobile technology, a processor-chipset-WLAN (wireless local area network) notebook solution that powers wireless computing.

Banaag noted that establishments have now begun to recognize Wi-Fi as a ?must-have? service that customers want and demand. In fact, coffee shops, resorts and high-end malls have already invested in the installation of wireless access points within their sites, he said.

At present, there are around 150 Wi-Fi access zones in the country. These hotspots were mostly rolled out by telecommunications players Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Globe Telecom Inc. through their respective Internet subsidiaries ePLDT and Innove Communications Inc.

Airborne Access, a Wi-Fi access company under ePLDT, accounts for the deployment of 77 sites across the country, specifically in Manila, Cebu, Baguio, La Union and Boracay. There are about 20 other ePLDT-connected sites located in various areas such as coffee shops.

On the other hand, GlobeQUEST, the corporate business group of Innove, is targeting to have 50 hotspots by the end of the year in Metro Manila, specifically in Makati, Alabang, Pasig, Greenhills, Quezon City and Mandaluyong, and in the regions, notably in Baguio, Pampanga, Cavite, Cebu and Davao.

The initial rollout of Wi-Fi hotspots was focused on ?high transient or foreigner traffic? areas like airports. Today?s hotspot rollouts, however, are mostly concentrated in high-end coffee outlets such as Seattle?s Best and Starbucks, and other mid- to high-end establishments, noted Harvey Libarnes, ePLDT assistant vice president for product development and management.

Emerging Trends

?Industry players have observed that the Wi-Fi ecosystem in the country is vibrant. Businesses have been looking into providing wireless connectivity in their offices. As the corporate market demands real-time information to make better and more informed decisions, there will be a continuous uptake (not only) of Centrino (but of mobile computing as a whole),? Banaag told Computerworld Philippines, citing a report recently released by technology research house Gartner Inc. which reflected this emerging local trend.

The report shows that notebook sales received a boost from the healthy demand for mobile computers, mainly laptops, grew 26.1% from year-ago levels.

According to Information technology research firm International Data Corporation, 36% of enterprises worldwide provide wireless connectivity to their employees. Within another 12 months, another 28% of enterprises are going to offer wireless connectivity to their employees. IDC estimates that 40% of today?s workforce is mobile. By 2006, that number is expected to reach 66%.

At Intel, approximately 70% of its 80,000 employees are equipped with notebooks, Banaag disclosed. Around 40,000 of these employees use their notebooks to connect wirelessly to the Internet.

?Migration to mobile is expected to be significant in the Asia-Pacific region. Local adoption is actually rising and will continue to do so as more and more hotspots are established across the country and prices of Centrino notebooks become more affordable,? the Intel executive said.

Locally, the education sector has been at the forefront of efforts to push mobile computing. Just recently, two universities - De La Salle University and the University of Asia and the Pacific - were ?unwired? through Intel?s Mobile Initiative for Learning program. This program aims to help tertiary institutions across the Asia-Pacific region set up their own mobile infrastructure and accelerate collaborative learning through the deployment of mobile technologies.

Intel also recently ?unwired? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s Executive Office, the Kalayaan Hall, and the Executive Guest House at the Malacañang Palace.

User Base

ePLDT?s Libarnes expects Wi-Fi computing to start going mainstream next year as the number of hotspots continues to grow and access devices become more affordable.

?Wi-Fi finds itself facing the same challenge as the Internet as a whole with the low PC penetration in the Philippines. Thus, the high cost of Wi-Fi access devices is partly serving as a bottleneck to the growth, limiting the current market to those who can afford (these devices),? he observed.

There are, however, a number of positive drivers that could potentially expand Wi-Fi?s user base, Libarnes said. One of these is the introduction of cheaper devices suited to the local market. He cited as examples the Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones like the latest Nokia, XDA and HP devices coming out in the market.

?Given the higher penetration of mobile services in the country, this will likely solidify the ?trial and usage? of Wi-Fi services in the broader C market (which will) eventually allow (its) entry into the mainstream market by mid- to late 2005,? Libarnes predicted.

ePLDT?s total recorded unique customers to date both from Airborne Access and other ePLDT-connected sites number at some 5,000, and the figure is growing at around 23%. The growth is mainly driven by the rapid increase in ?transient users? and the rise in the local penetration of Wi-Fi.

Regular users, on the other hand, have reached around 1,200 (from Airborne Access and other ePLDT-connected sites), and the number is growing at a rate of 17% monthly.

Libarnes disclosed that, on the average, new users use the service for 44 minutes, regular prepaid users use it for an hour, while heavier postpaid users use it for two to three hours daily.

Robert Martinez, product management head of GlobeQUEST disclosed that since the introduction of WiZ (Wireless Internet Zone) in mid-2003, the company has been seeing a ?consistent increase in usage? of the service each month, both from regular and new subscribers. There are currently more than 1,000 subscribers using the WiZ from various subscription sources. This number is expected to increase further with the growth of GlobeQUEST?s DSL subscribers, he said.

?We are experiencing, on the average, 60 minutes per usage per access, which is more or less equivalent to the access device?s battery capacity. And on a good day, there are at least four WiZ users per hotspot,? Martinez told Computerworld Philippines.

Innove?s Cocoy Claravall, head of the applications and solutions delivery group of the company?s data arm GlobeQUEST, said a typical Globe WiZ user would be an executive, businessman, or mobile professional such as sales, insurance or pharmaceutical agents who spend 50% of their workday out of the office. They are equipped for mobile access, most notably with Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, palmtops, or the high-end phones with Wi-Fi capabilities such as the Nokia 9500. The most common application accessed via Wi-Fi is corporate e-mail.

The current typical market for ePLDT, apart from foreign transients or visiting expatriates, are mobile corporate workforces, self-employed entrepreneurs, students and tourists. ?Given the current high price of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, users are commonly from the Upper C and higher socio-economic classes,? Libarnes said.

?We conducted a survey in the middle of this year, sampling those using the service in some of our sites. The common usage driver was to be able to access their e-mails,? he disclosed. About 82% of the respondents said ?e-mail? was the top reason customers use wireless Internet, while ?browsing the Internet? was a far second, he said.

Drivers

The key ingredients for the take-off of ?nomadic computing,?

which, according to Claravall, is the more appropriate term, are the affordability of the devices (like laptops, palmtops, phones) and the strategic pervasiveness of the hotspots. As both of these conditions are being addressed now, it will only be ?a matter of time? for public Wi-Fi hotspots like Globe?s WiZ to enter the mainstream market, he said.

?Another thing to consider is the accessibility of the service. How easy will it be to access and pay for a public Wi-Fi service? In Innove, we make sure we provide all options for the customer, whether via prepaid cards, postpaid accounts, SMS (in partnership with Globe Handyphone), and credit cards (soon),? Claravall said. ?You have to position the service offering (so that it will) be available to all your target segments. Expats or foreign visitors, for example, will find that the easiest way for them to get access is via credit card payments.?

?I think another spark to this service is the ability to find creative business models like, for example, bundling Wi-Fi access as a form of value meal in a coffee shop,? he added. ?That will be interesting since most people today who buy coffee don?t really mind paying a premium and rather than have them pay a separate internet charge, why not bundle it??

Another key driver for the adoption of wireless broadband is localizing content, not just for wireless but also for wired access. Claravall pointed out that part of the reason the cost of broadband in the Philippines today is at its current high level is that most of what users access are content sourced from outside the country.

?A significant portion of the cost for us to (be able to) provide the service is the international backbone connectivity,? he explained.

Libarnes said a combination of factors would fuel the adoption of Wi-Fi, the most compelling of which is the general acceptance and penetration of the Internet. Wi-Fi hotspots, he pointed out, serve as a pseudo-mobile alternative access for the basic Internet services - like e-mail - which users have already grown familiar with.

The more affordable price of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, lower access costs as well as the ?creative bundling? of other services with telecommunication companies and Internet service providers are also key drivers, Libarnes said.

To ensure that consumers can effectively use their Centrino notebooks, Intel is working with wireless service providers where Wi-Fi access is offered. Through its Wireless Verification Program, the company will be testing the compatibility of various access point devices and wireless service providers with common configurations of notebooks built on Intel Centrino mobile technology.