Over halfway through 2012 and Wi-Fi remains a hot topic in the media with many thought-leaders in the industry citing this technology as an essential tool for mobile data offload.
Shortly after Mobile World Congress, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced that it was working with the GSMA to simplify the way in which smartphones and tablets connect to Wi-Fi hotspots. This caused a media frenzy and resulted in seven journalist briefings and over 100 pieces of coverage on global online news sites including Reuters, EnGadget, The Register, GigaOm, Wireless Week and IDG.com.
In May, the WBA started to gain more recognition stateside. Dan O’Shea, who writes for a prominent US tech news site called Fierce Wireless, interviewed the WBA’s very own Shrikant Shenwai and Tiago Rodrigues and consequently wrote an article entitled ‘Managing wireless network capacity’ referencing the completion of the first round of the NGH trials, as well as the recent collaboration with the GSMA. The WBA also received mentions in US media institutions Barrons and TIME Magazine.
June proved to be an exciting month for the WBA; the first WBA Wi-Fi Global Congress took place in Seoul that successfully brought together over 200 key Wi-Fi influencers from around the world. The launch of Phase Two of the WBA’s NGH trials was announced and was covered by over 50 key telco/tech publications worldwide including Computerworld (IDG.com), The Register, GigaOm, Telecoms.com, Total Telecom, Telecom TV, TelecomAsia, Computer Weekly and The Verge. In addition, Shrikant Shenwai met Bernice Han from Agence France-Presse (AFP) to discuss his views on the impact of data explosion.
Following on from the NGH Phase Two announcement, Keith Dyer from Mobile Europe spoke to the WBA about the current NGH and Wi-Fi roaming projects for a feature called ‘Wi-Fi for all’. Tiago Rodrigues was later interviewed by Dawinderpal Sahota from Telecoms.com on the 802.11ac protocol and discussed NGH Phase Two, resulting in a great piece of coverage. Also in that month, an interview with the WBA’s Cedric Gonin from Orange which delved in to the challenge of the mix between unlicensed and licensed spectrum was posted on the same telecoms news site.
In terms of media presence, it has been a fantastic six months for the WBA and this looks set to continue with more exciting announcements in the pipeline, and of course the next WBA Wi-Fi Global Congress to be held on the 5th – 8th November 2012 at the Gran Hyatt Hotel, San Francisco. To see regular coverage updates see wballiance.com/category/articles.
For more information on how to get involved, follow the link at www.wifiglobalcongress.com
