June 26, 2012 - Singapore - The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry association focused on driving the next generation Wi-Fi experience, today welcomed 12 new members that have joined its efforts to drive a simplified global Wi-Fi experience. The new members include Airsense Wireless, Amdocs, Bell Mobility, China Unicom, Hewlett Packard, Shaw Communications, TalkTalk Communications and TIM Brasil, bringing WBA membership to 82. They join at a time when Wi-Fi hotspot numbers are set to grow by 350% by 20152 in order to support rapidly increasing mobile device usage.

The WBA currently includes a mix of leading Wi-Fi, mobile and broadband network operators; service providers and media players from across the Americas, Europe & Asia Pacific, as well as technology providers and partners. It is conducting Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) trials that will allow SIM and non-SIM based mobile devices, such as phones, notebooks and tablets, to simply roam from the cellular network on to Wi-Fi hotspots using a secure connection, thereby augmenting the coverage and capacity of both. Many of the world's largest operators and vendors have participated in these trials including AT&T, BT, Orange, NTT DOCOMO, China Mobile, Cisco, LG, Intel and Ericsson.

The latest update on the new generation of hotspots will be provided  this week at the inaugural Wi-Fi Global Congress in Seoul where industry leaders from all parts of the Wi-Fi ecosystem will discuss future Wi-Fi developments including Next Generation Hotspots.

Shrikant Shenwai, CEO the WBA said: "Wi-Fi is now being seen as a fundamental component of fixed, wireless and mobile networks. Put simply, without Wi-Fi offload mobile networks would be completely overloaded. Yet offload can be made far more effective if the barriers between mobile and Wi-Fi can be overcome and handover between the two intelligently controlled. This is what the WBA is focusing on and is also why the major telecom players continue to join our organization. The latest additions to the WBA family will help us all to continue to meet this challenge and we welcome them, along with other industry leaders from all parts of the ecosystem, to our Wi-Fi Global Congress in Seoul next week."

The new members join existing members which include major fixed operators such as BT, Comcast and Time Warner Cable; seven of the top 10 mobile operator groups (by revenue) as well as leading technology companies such as Cisco, Google and Intel.