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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (33098)	3/4/2003 5:31:02 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196654

Intel, Infocomm Push For Wi-Fi Roaming In Asia (From The Asian Wall Street Journal) By Jason Dean Wednesday March 5, 5:31 AM sg.biz.yahoo.com COMPANIES BACKING the rollout of wireless broadband access, or Wi-Fi, are beginning to work on enabling users to roam easily across different networks and different countries -- much like cellphone users can do now. That sort of seamless roaming, industry executives say, could attract even more mainstream users to the already fast-growing technology, which some analysts argue could steal the thunder of long-delayed third-generation broadband-wireless services. Intel Corp. is expected to announce today a joint initiative with the Singapore government's Infocomm Development Authority to draw blueprints for seamless Wi-Fi roaming throughout Asia. The project is set to begin in April and is expected to include several Asian network operators. The parties will aim to set standards for such issues as billing, account authentication and security that Wi-Fi service providers can use to arrange roaming deals among each other. The goal is to let users log on with their laptop computers or other Wi-Fi enabled devices at the access points, or hot spots, on any network in any country without setting up separate accounts and dealing with separate billing, says Pat Gelsinger, Intel's chief technology officer. For the U.S. semiconductor company, the initiative is part of a push behind Wi-Fi that it hopes will drive demand for its chips. The campaign will begin in earnest on March 12, when the company unveils its Centrino portable-computing technology, designed facilitate laptop computers' handling of Wi-Fi, also known as 802.11b. "We believe that as you make Wi-Fi more available, there's going to be an overall acceleration of the marketplace for data services," Mr. Gelsinger said in a telephone interview. "So we believe that we get an indirect benefit from the acceleration of those services into the market that will go well beyond the direct revenue benefit we get from our products," he added. Wi-Fi has already started to gain mainstream acceptance, particularly in Asia, as the equipment enabling the standard has become less expensive and more-easily available. IDC estimates there were 150,000 people using public Wi-Fi services in the Asian-Pacific region outside Japan at the end of last year, and expects that number to grow to 5.2 million people by 2007. Mr. Gelsinger says Intel chose Asia for the Wi-Fi roaming initiative largely because service providers in the region have been more aggressive than their U.S. and European counterparts in rolling out the wireless broadband service. IDC estimates there were 14,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the region at end of 2002, and companies such as coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. and KT Corp., Korea's biggest fixed-line carrier, are adding new ones at a rapid clip. But only now are companies starting to address the roaming issue, which analysts say will be crucial to making Wi-Fi more broadly appealing. Intel anticipates that operators will be eager to sign on to roaming agreements because it will help extend the reach of their service and deliver more value to customers. It says its initiative with IDA will be the first to seek out standards for roaming across different countries. Already, operators in Singapore have begun to forge their own roaming agreements with one another. Last week, StarHub Pte. Ltd. of Singapore signed a deal with two rival Wi-Fi service providers, 5G Wireless Communication Pte. and Bluengine, to enable roaming within the island nation. Tim Crowley, a Singapore-based analyst who covers telecommunications for IDC, says roaming agreements like StarHub's are a first step toward international agreements like those for which Intel is preparing. "We're anticipating that Wi-Fi is going to get popular," he says, "but it's not really going to explode until roaming agreements take place."