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The emergence of technologies such as Wi-Fi 6, Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) and Passpoint are helping drive growth in wireless networking technology, with industry confidence in the future of the sector continuing to grow.
This is according to a survey conducted by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), which revealed that Wi-Fi evolution is accelerating and moving into new areas, such as expanding Internet of Things use cases and integration with 5G.
It found more than half of professionals in the industry (51 per cent) reported increased positivity for Wi-Fi solutions for 2019, with a further 33 per cent saying their confidence remains unchanged.
Tiago Rodrigues, general manager of the WBA, stated: “Every year our Industry Report captures the innovations within the Wi-Fi ecosystem that are pushing the boundaries to enhance Wi-Fi services and the user experience."
He added: "Next year all eyes will be on Wi-Fi 6 as the standard approaches ratification, marking a step-change in Wi-Fi capabilities and services. This will be a priority for us, particularly in terms of driving coexistence between licensed and unlicensed technologies to improve the delivery of better services to the end-user."
The WBA stated that the emergence of 5G will not have a significant impact on the adoption of Wi-Fi 6, which it expects will be embraced by operators in order to establish stronger convergence that increases the efficiency of wireless networks.
Wi-Fi 6 is expected to be finalised by late 2019, and respondents to the EBA survey identified OFDMA uplink and downlink as the features of this technology they consider to be most important, with 44 per cent of professionals naming this.
This was following by self-optimising capability (42 per cent), improved peak speeds (38 per cent) and flexible channel sizes (34 per cent).
Elsewhere, more than half of respondents (51 per cent) plan to deploy NGH and Passpoint in the coming years, while 29 per cent have already done so.
