Monday, March 4, 2013

Fon, Deutsche Telekom Do a Deal

Fon, the global Wi-Fi network, is built by consumers who contribute to the network, and is not "carrier owned" or even "carrier class" in the traditional sense.

But that has not stopped Deutsche Telekom from partnering with Fon to build Germany’s largest Wi-Fi network. The "WLAN To Go" network will launch in the summer of 2013, and is inttended to provide greater Wi-Fi offload capabilities for DT and its customers.

The deal illustrates the porosity of "access" methods in a communications environment that increasingly features a mix of "carrier-owned," "carrier grade," "best effort" and "assured quality" networks. 

Given the traditional carrier preference for licensed spectrum rather than unlicensed, and wires rather than wireless for backhaul, the new deal signifies a much more flexible approach to access, overall. 

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