Demand for public WLAN services will be stronger in Europe than the US during the next five years, according to a study carried out by US market watcher Insight Research.

Worldwide, some $163 million will be spent on Wi-Fi services and kit during the 2003-2008 period. Insight's study - Wi-Fi in North America and Europe: Telecommunications' Future 2003-2008 - expects global revenues to grow from $7 billion this year to $44 billion in 2008, a compound annual growth rate of 44 per cent.

Europe also has a stronger standards-based mobile communications heritage, thanks to the ubiquity of GSM mobile phones. That favours IT solutions that deliver a high level of mobility.

Europe also has a lower installed base of office PCs. That, plus the natural upgrade cycle, will favour the purchase of newer systems with integrated Wi-Fi. In the consumer space, Europe's cafe culture and ubiquitous mass transit systems lend themselves to public hotspots, says Insight.

Globally, equipment providers will be the big Wi-Fi winner initially, says Insight, accounting for $5 billion out of this year's $7 billion WLAN revenue - services account for the remaining $2 billion, 28.5 per cent of the total. By 2008, services will account for 41 per cent - $18 billion of that $44 billion total.

"We expect growth of European Wi-Fi services to surpass North American service revenue well before the end of our forecast period," said Insight Research President Robert Rosenberg. ®

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