Passpoint-Enabled Network Available to Mobile Carriers and Handset Manufacturers for Testing; Next Generation Hotspot is Stepping Stone to Seamless Carrier Offload
CHICAGO – September 5th, 2013 – Boingo Wireless (NASDAQ: WIFI), the leading DAS and Wi-Fi provider that serves consumers, carriers and advertisers worldwide, today announced that the company has launched the world’s first commercial Next Generation Hotspot Wi-Fi network at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports with more than 67 million annual passengers.
The Passpoint-enabled network – “Boingo Passpoint” – allows for seamless roaming and carrier offload, automating network identification, authentication and encryption without user intervention. It is now live and available for end-to-end testing by mobile carriers, Wi-Fi operators, and handset manufacturers, especially those already participating in the Wireless Broadband Alliance’s (WBA) Next Generation Hotspot trials.
“We believe that carrier offload will be an important growth driver for Boingo and the Wi-Fi industry at large, especially as standards-based seamless offload methods like this become more prevalent in market,” said David Hagan, CEO of Boingo Wireless. “The sheer volume of users in high-volume, high-traffic locations like O’Hare Airport creates data demand thresholds that can tax traditional mobile networks; Wi-Fi offload via Passpoint creates additional data capacity for carriers without forcing users to jump through hoops.”
“This is a significant step forward for the WBA’s Next Generation Hotspots vision becoming a commercial reality,” said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO for the Wireless Broadband Alliance. “Moving from the technical trials to major public hotspots provides more access to more members to test their implementations in real world conditions and should help the industry bring this to market in short order.”
The WBA coordinates Wi-Fi operator trials to facilitate seamless Wi-Fi roaming and offload based on several industry standards, as well as the WBA’s own interoperability compliance standards. Boingo actively participates in those trials and is WBA-certified as compliant with established interoperability guidelines.
“Wi-Fi Alliance congratulates Boingo on launching its Passpoint-certified network,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “We are pleased to see service providers recognizing the benefits of Passpoint as an essential component to meet the growing demand for seamless access to Wi-Fi mobile broadband.”
The Wi-Fi network at ORD uses equipment that has been Passpoint certified by Wi-Fi Alliance. Passpoint-certified networks, based on the Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot 2.0 specification, allow users to benefit from seamless network authentication even while roaming. Passpoint-certified mobile devices are able to automatically discover and connect to the best available network, using the latest in enterprise grade WPA2 security protection.
“In the last year, we’ve upgraded our largest networks with Passpoint-certified hardware, and will continue to upgrade the balance of our managed and operated Wi-Fi networks to ensure we can support seamless, secure roaming network-wide,” added Hagan.
About Boingo Wireless
Boingo Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIFI) helps the world stay connected. Our vast footprint of small cell networks covers more than a million DAS and Wi-Fi locations and reaches more than 1 billion consumers annually – in places as varied as airports, stadiums, shopping malls, restaurants, universities, and military bases. The Boingo platform is the only monetization engine of its kind, driving revenue through carrier offload, advertising, location-based data analytics, and consumer products like IPTV, high-speed broadband, and Wi-Fi. For more information about the Boingo story, visit www.boingo.com.
Boingo, Boingo Wireless, the Boingo Wireless Logo and Don’t Just Go. Boingo are registered trademarks of Boingo Wireless, Inc. Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi, Passpoint and WPA2 are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects” and similar references to future periods. These forward-looking statements include the quotations from management in this press release, as well as any statements regarding Boingo’s strategic plans and future guidance. Forward-looking statements are based on the company’s current expectations and assumptions regarding its business, the economy and other future conditions. Since forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. The company’s actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include regional, national or global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory conditions, as well as other risk and uncertainties described more fully in documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including Boingo’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 filed with the SEC on March 18, 2013, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 filed with the SEC on August 9, 2013. Any forward-looking statement made by Boingo in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause the company’s actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Boingo to predict all of them. Boingo undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
