A futurist, together with the CEO of Purple, has publicly predicted that WiFi could displace mobile networks by 2025.
Digital futurist Mike Ryan and Purple CEO Gavin Wheeldon argue that mobile networks will struggle to keep pace with rapidly growing data consumption driven by 5G rollouts and unlimited data plans.
“Mobile networks rely on offloading traffic onto WiFi,” Wheeldon explains. “More traffic was offloaded from cellular networks onto WiFi than remained on them in 2016. As we enter the Zettabyte era — with annual global IP traffic expected to surge — WiFi will increasingly need to shoulder much of the load.”
The availability of WiFi is expanding fast. Purple’s research indicates there are nearly 12 million commercial and community WiFi hotspots in the UK alone, and most of them offer free access.
“In urban areas people frequently use WiFi on their mobile devices even when they believe they are on 4G,” says Mike Ryan, founder of Fusion Futures. “Over the next few years, wearable devices — including concepts like digital contact lenses — could supplant phones for many tasks, further increasing data demand.”
Ryan adds that “WiFi, or an evolved version of it offering effectively unlimited speed, could become the primary method for data delivery, potentially rendering 4G and 5G networks redundant by 2025.”
The global WiFi market has shown steady growth. With a projected compound annual growth rate (2015–2020) of 17.8 percent, estimates placed the market value near $33.6 billion by 2020. Analysts also predicted that by 2018 there would be roughly one WiFi hotspot for every eight people worldwide.
“We expect WiFi to outlive traditional mobile networks,” Wheeldon says. “It is increasingly the glue that keeps our connected world running, meeting the demands of streaming services and other high-bandwidth uses. People use their phones very differently today than they did a decade ago.”
What do you think of this prediction? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss topics like this and sharing real-world use cases? Attend events in the co-located IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series. Upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam bring together experts exploring the future of enterprise technology.