AT&T has just released impressive data concerning the growth of Wi-Fi connections on its U.S. network (see the inforgraphic below). In the third quarter, users made 106.9 million connections on AT&T’s U.S. Wi-Fi network, exceeding the total 85.5 million connections made during all of 2009. Third-quarter 2010 connections were more than 320 percent versus third-quarter 2009. In May, the company only saw 53 million connections established for Q2, so clearly adoption is growing by leaps and bounds.
AT&T has now seen 228.1 million connections through the first nine months of 2010, on track to break 300 million connections in this year alone. As more users flock to Wi-Fi enabled smartphones and devices, AT&T is clearly making more connections for consumers.
Angie Wiskocil, senior vice president, AT&T Wi-Fi Services said in a statement: “In addition to smartphones, we saw that more and more devices like tablets, eReaders and netbooks were becoming Wi-Fi enabled and realized that Wi-Fi would play a major part in our ability to mobilize everything for our customers. Now, our Wi-Fi services are a significant asset for AT&T and for the consumers and businesses we serve.”
The company says that collective total value of AT&T’s signed Wi-Fi customer contracts is approximately $200 million.
This quarter’s connections should continue to increase as the iPad arrives at AT&T stores. And the company will be offering the device to enterprises as well. I’m curious how many of these Wi-Fi connections involve iPhones; and whether a Verizon iPhone will change things. In this past quarter, a record 5.2 million customers activated iPhones with AT&T.
