Boingo Networks buys Opti-Fi Networks to expand its airport Wi-Fi footprint to 55 locations in North America. As consolidation continues in the commercial Wi-Fi market, the deal follows AT&T's $275 million acquisition of Wayport, which operates hotspots at McDonald's restaurants, select Wyndham, Marriott Vacation Club and Four Seasons hotels and HealthSouth and Sun Healthcare locations.
Consolidation in the commercial Wi-Fi market continued
Nov. 10 with Boingo Wireless acquiring Opti-Fi Networks of Annapolis, Md., which operates 25
airport Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. and Canada. AT&T expanded
its Wi-Fi footprint to 20,000 hotspots Nov. 6 with the acquisition of
privately held Wayport.
Boingo, of Los Angeles, is the largest
operator of airport Wi-Fi networks in North America and the Opti-Fi deal increases the
number of airport networks operated by the company from 30 to 55, covering 43
percent of passenger traffic in the top 100 North American airports. Terms of
the deal were not disclosed.
"With the acquisition of Opti-Fi, we are able to
integrate their network seamlessly into ours, provide high-quality connection
to those airports, and increase the Boingo Enterprise solution to more
airports," Dave Hagan, CEO and president of Boingo Wireless, said in a
statement.
New airports added through the deal include Montreal,
Buffalo, El Paso and Piedmont Triad International Airport located in
Greensboro, N.C. These locations join other airports operated by Boingo in
North America and the United Kingdom, including John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and
Newark airports in the New York metropolitan area, as well as Chicago's O'Hare
and Midway and London's Heathrow.
The Boingo deal announcement follows by less a than a week
AT&T's acquisition of Wayport, which operates hotspots at
McDonald's restaurants, select Wyndham, Marriott Vacation Club and Four Seasons
hotels and HealthSouth and Sun Healthcare locations. Wayport already provides
back-office management for AT&T’s Wi-Fi hotspots.
"From an industry perspective, it's great that
AT&T sees Wi-Fi as a great complement to 3G networks," Hagan said.
"Carriers should bundle Wi-Fi with 3G to provide a better user experience
and offload expensive data usage to cheaper, faster Wi-Fi networks."
Hagan
added telecom carriers and cable companies are moving to add Wi-Fi networks to
their service offerings. "Naturally, that leads to the kind of industry
consolidation exemplified by AT&T buying Wayport, our own acquisition of
both Concourse Communications and Sprint's Wi-Fi network," he said.
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