Although the WiFi-based mobile phones are banned in Chinese mainland market, however those supporting both WiFi and WAPI standards can bypass this rule, as the WAPI standard is a Chinese intellectual property rights. As a result, the Chinese three operators are making the WiFi as one of their very important strategies.
iSuppli's latest data show that by the end of 2009, the number of China Telecom's WiFi hotspots have reached 95,000, an increase of more than 200% compared to the same time of 2008.China Mobile’s WiFi hotpots added 80,000 in one year, now the total number has reached 90,000.China Unicom holds the least WiFi hotspots, with a number of only 2.5 million.
"It is excepted the growth rate of WiFi hotspots of three operators will reach around 60%," said iSuppli.”With the 3G users continuing to increase, the congestion of data transmission for China Telecom’s 3G network has emerged recently, it is believed that China Unicom and China Mobile will face the same problem. WiFi hot spots can be used to reduce the burden of 3G network. ”(Paul)
