By Caroline Gabriel, Research Director, Maravedis-Rethink
Carrier Wi-Fi is increasingly discussed in the same breath as LTE small cells as a key component of mobile operators' HetNets, but in reality, the cellcos have largely used hotspots – their own or those of partners – to offload low value data from their overstretched macro networks. That is set to change as they start to integrate Wi-Fi fully, enabling greater capacity and new business models. The change will be enabled by technical advances such as multimode small cells , but critically by standards which allow users to move seamlessly between 3G/4G and Wi-Fi, and these will be the key factor in an upsurge in carrier Wi-Fi investment in 2014.