The Wi-Fi Alliance's PassPoint of No Return

Former FCC CTO and current EU Commission consultant Scott Marcus sent a note my way regarding the EU Commission’s latest report, “Study on Impact of Traffic Off-Loading and Related Technological Trends on the Demand for Wireless Broadband Spectrum.” Some of the takeaways I found most important include:

1. Europe is experiencing the same issues as the U.S., with 65 percent CAGR with over half of the data coming from smartphones.
2. Wi-Fi is present in over 70 percent of EU member countries.
3. The amount of traffic being carried by the home Wi-Fi networks exceeds the total capacity of the cellular network by 4 times.
4. The majority of the offload is being accomplished via home networks.

And a couple of interesting conclusions I drew:

1. The 3.5 GHz block could be part of a spectrum licensing strategy.
2. The EU Commission seeks to make spectrum from 5150 MHz to 5925 MHz available globally for Wi-Fi.

The concept of a global Wi-Fi network carries serious appeal when you consider the fact that LTE is being licensed on many different frequencies and so, the only true universal service we may be able to access is Wi-Fi.

Which brings us to the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Passpoint, a product aimed at making the SIM card in your phone the security solution for access over Wi-Fi (thus making your service provider the key – yes, that is a pun -- to accessing and off-loading your data requirements). Of course, all of this makes perfect sense to the carriers, but I am wondering whether the end-user will see things the same way. Or in other words, if you are getting your Wi-Fi for free, when carriers thereafter try to promote their service, will it be seen as a solution or as an invasion into the home?

In my opinion, one reason the Femtocell Forum changed its name to the Small Cell Forum is because the use-case of femto cells in Europe is such that Internet access operators are moving to carrier wireless operators traffic. In Europe, naked DSL is successful because it makes it easy for carriers to compete with this basic service, however carrying other carrier traffic was not allowed to ensure a more competitive landscape of network infrastructure. And whether Passpoint represents a solution to all of this depends on how policy is viewed. If it is seen as a carrier service, then just like Femtocells they could very well find themselves boxed out by policy.

The EUC is a good commission with strong, clear objectives. Their role is different that the FCC, too, since they advise member country PUCs. And also unlike the FCC, which can supersede state jurisdiction, the EUC serves as a sort of consulting body to the member companies.

Passpoint is a good strategy for carriers, however the lesson of WiMAX – specifying, so they will come -- is not going to bring them along. Also, if the carriers have to provide the Passpoint service, I expect that the policies that proved to be bad for Femtocells will remain problematic for Passpoint as well.

So, bottom line?  Wi-Fi is the main reason our smartphones are rich with video, and to ensure that this does not clog the network, any policy must reflect the goals set forward.