Europe has become the world leader in the public availability of wireless internet access points, or hotspots, according to figures published last week.

More than 44,000 wireless hotspots are available in Europe, which is more than a third of the total number around the globe, according to analyst Gartner.

And despite lagging behind some of its European rivals in the deployment of broadband internet access (Computing, 27 October), the UK tops the chart for wireless availability, with 9,801 access points. This is nearly 60 per cent more than Germany, Europe’s number two, with 6,260 hotspots.

Monica Basso, a research director at Gartner, told delegates at a WiFi business development summit in Milan that the 122,640 hotspots deployed globally will rise to more than 200,000 by 2008.

‘Three years ago, most deployments were in the US, with very few in Europe. Now Europe has more hotspots than North America in total,’ she said.

Niall Murphy, chief technical officer at wireless provider The Cloud, the largest provider of wireless infrastructure in Europe, says the UK is leading the way when it comes to wireless.

‘The UK has a depth of wireless networks,’ he said. ‘And this will rise over the coming year.’

In corporate rollouts, Basso says half of all US companies have deployed wireless networking. And a further 20 per cent are evaluating the technology, with plans to deploy it over the next eight to 12 months.

‘About 70 per cent of organisations should have it in place by the end of next year,’ she said.

Although data on corporate deployments is only available for the US, Basso says Europe is in a similar position.

And domestic use of WiFi is also picking up speed.

Some 30 per cent of European homes with internet access have already installed the technology, and Basso predicts that this figure will double to 60 per cent over the next five years, with the UK the clear leader in Europe.

European public wireless hotspots, 2004

Source: Gartner Dataquest, August 2005