Paris, January 18th, 2024 – Wifirst, the leading WiFi infrastructure operator for professionals, has acquired Hotsplots, a key player in the German WiFi market (17,500 hotspots). After joining the Next 40 at the beginning of 2023, this strategic acquisition, backed by its solid, long-term investors (CAPZA, AMUNDI, Bpifrance, Socadif), will enable Wifirst to continue its international expansion and consolidate its position as European leader.
Founded in 2004, Hotsplots is a major service provider in Germany, offering professional WiFi solutions across a wide range of market segments (public transport, retail, local authorities, hotels, etc.) with more than 55 million user sessions per month.
Hotsplots is particularly notable for its strong growth strategy in the travel sector, with an on-board WiFi solution for trains and buses that is as reliable as it is efficient. Innovation is at the heart of the Hotsplots teams’ approach, and they have filed numerous patents on bandwidth management in mass WiFi environments. Hotsplots now has more than 7,000 customers, including the German public railway company, which operates the country’s entire rail network.
Sascha Schaub, Managing Director of Hotsplots says: “We’re delighted to be joining the Wifirst team. We have a similar background and a shared DNA, with research and innovation at the heart of our approach to customers. This new cycle is an opportunity for Hotsplots to benefit from Wifirst’s striking force, in particular their unique know-how in deployment and artificial intelligence.”
Marc Taieb, Founder and CEO of Wifirst, explains: “We fell in love with both the teams and the quality of the technology developed by Hotsplots. I see this acquisition as an opportunity for us to work together to build a European player in WiFi infrastructures that will be very strong on the global market with new wireless product offerings.”
This strategic acquisition will enable Wifirst to accelerate its geographical expansion and diversify its product portfolio, in particular with Hotsplots’ specific expertise in on-board WiFi technology.
For more information, visit www.wifirst.com/en/ or follow us on LinkedIn.
PRESS CONTACT
Wifirst – Sarah Battoue
+33 7 85 73 45 82
About hotsplots GmbH
Hotsplots – Sven Motschmann
+49 (0)30 29 77 348-82
hotsplots GmbH has been operating as a WiFi provider since 2004. The more than 17,500 active hotspot locations in Europe include stationary hotspots in cities and communities, hotels, clinics, youth hostels, student dormitories and at public bus stops as well as a large number of mobile hotspots in trains, buses and trams for public transport and long-distance travel. The HOTSPLOTS WiFi solutions offer safety by means of VPN routing, intelligent bandwidth management, flexible access and reporting options. Customers from public transport and travel benefit from a fast vehicle-land connection at their mobile hotspots.
HOTSPLOTS takes over the technical and legal operation of the networks, supplies Internet connections or SIM cards or also provides temporary WiFi hotspots for events.
About Wifirst
About Wifirst Created in 2002, Wifirst is the french leader in managed WiFi for professional. The telecom operator has extended its network internationally by opening offices in the United Kingdom and Spain in 2016, and currently covers 26 countries. Wifirst structured its activity around two large families of customers: the Hospitality & Residences market (AccorHotels, Club Med, The Ascott, The Student Hotel…) and the Retail & Business market (Havas KX Village in London, Universal music group). Pioneer of the “WIFI as a service” approach, Wifirst is committed to continuous innovation in order to offer a network capable of absorbing the spectacular increase of internet usage, offering high added value services and making WiFi the technical foundation for the digital transformation of its customers. For more information, please visit www.wifirst.com/en/
