Toshiba of Canada launches Wi-Fi program, plans 1,000 hotspots by year-end

Toshiba of Canada Information Systems Group (ISG) is hoping to capitalize on the growing thirst for "anywhere bandwidth" and has launched Toshiba Hotspots, a new program aimed at bringing wireless access to a wide variety of locations across the country. The Canadian subsidiary of Toshiba Corp. will leverage its expertise in the notebook and mobility spaces to compete against an ever-growing list of Wi-Fi system providers. The company hopes to install more than 1,000 hotspots in various locations by the end of the year.Mary Ann Yule, VP of marketing for Toshiba of Canada ISG, says the locations will represent a cross section of areas from coffee shops to hospitals and airport lounges to shopping malls. "Anywhere there's significant (people) traffic and people congregate," she explains.In the past, there has been some skepticism leveled at the viability of such Wi-Fi services, particularly in terms of pricing. Some believe that hotel lobbies may be a viable business opportunity, but are skeptical that offering this service in a coffee shop will generate enough traffic to warrant the investment by the owner.However, that doesn't appear to have affected deployment. In fact, the Wi-Fi market seems to be gaining significant momentum in Canada as there are a growing number of hotspot providers in the country. Bell Canada recently launched a program to convert its vast network of payphones into Wi-Fi access points (RoW, Dec. 20/02), and Fatport Corp. is continuing to rapidly expand its Wi-Fi network across British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.Last month, Fatport inked a network roaming agreement with NetWireless Hotspots Canada Inc. under which subscribers from each company will be able to roam onto the other's network. The deal will add a substantial number of new Wi-Fi-enabled locations in the country and subsequent expansion of the public Wi-Fi access market in Canada. Fatport also recently announced that it is working with Intel Corp. to test the chip maker's latest Wi-Fi chip, the Centrino.While Bell and Fatport operate as service providers, Toshiba of Canada is only enabling the access and is leaving the service provision up to the locations and the computer resellers, which will support and maintain the system. This model allows the locations to decide how they are going to charge for the service.While pay-per-use is certainly an option, Yule says locations can set up whatever payment models they wish. Citing the example of a high-end hotel versus an express hotel, she says the high-end location may not wish to charge a fee for accessing the system, while an express hotel could use the service fees to supplement revenue."We've structured it so it's very flexible for the location and the operator to help them set up whatever makes best sense for their relationship," she tells Report on Wireless. "We have a model that we've presented to our reseller community and various locations that would be for every credit card transaction. The coffee shop, for example, would earn a percentage of the usage and the reseller would earn a percentage as well."Despite increasing competition in this arena, especially from Bell Canada with its massive payphone infrastructure, Yule believes that Toshiba of Canada will gain its fair share of the market. While Bell has that existing infrastructure, Toshiba will be able to leverage its existing computer reseller network to deploy hotspots."One of the things we think we have an opportunity with is we currently promote our notebooks through the Canadian computer dealers network," she explains. "We already have a dealer network that has relationships with end-customer environments (to which) they already provide IT solutions. This is just another opportunity for them to work with their client base to provide them with another IT opportunity."

Toshiba of Canada launches Wi-Fi program, plans 1,000 hotspots by year-end

News | 03/04/2003 5:00 am EST

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