Peruvian service provider Digital Way is deploying indoor and outdoor Smart Wi-Fi products from Ruckus Wireless to support the expansion of its popular WIGO Libre! Wi-Fi service throughout Lima.
“We continue to see high demand from operators of all types around the world for more carrier-class wireless solutions that enable them to deliver a Wi-Fi experience to their customers that is fast, reliable and pervasive. Latin America is proving to be a particularly strong market given how easy and economical our solution is to deploy relative to other broadband alternatives,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless.
According to recent data from IDC, Wi-Fi network expansion in Latin America is indeed surging, with the region experiencing 38.8% year-over-year growth in 2Q13. IDC also expects Wi-Fi product revenue in Latin America to eclipse $425 million (USD) by 2017.
Hundreds of indoor and outdoor access points (APs) are being installed by Digital Way, including at the National Stadium of Lima (soccer); Coliseum Bonilla (volleyball); Centro Empresarial (Lima’s Central Business District); Miraflores (a huge outdoor tourist destination by the sea and home to 3 million residents); and four shopping malls in Lima, including Jockey Plaza, Mega Plaza, Larcomar, and Minka.
According to Digital Way, historically, the availability of free Wi-Fi services has been extremely limited in Lima to locations such as Starbucks coffee shops, which support small numbers of concurrent users while generally providing a poor user experience.
“There is a significant opportunity within Peru to offer a better wireless experience for millions of users and this is just the start,” said Carlos Andres Lopez, CEO of Digital Way. “With Ruckus, we plan to grow our WIGO Libre! service across the whole of Lima, along with other parts of Peru.”
Lopez concludes: “For Peruvians, the exploding growth of mobile devices including smartphones and tablets is putting increasing pressure on the existing 3G cellular networks here. Additionally, users in Peru don’t want to expend their cellular data plans because they are expensive and limited—they are hungry for reliable, free Wi-Fi, and look for it everywhere.”
