Making Wi Fi available free at airports is not a “one size fits all” proposition, panelists said Wednesday at the ACI-NA Airport Concessions Conference. Factors to consider when deciding on the Wi Fi model of paid v. free:
• Is free Wi Fi a passenger amenity? Yes, but how do you fund it?
• Are you currently receiving sufficient revenue from paid Wi Fi at your airport?
• Is there community pressure to provide free Wi Fi?
• Is there pressure from competitive airports?
• Is there pressure from the local government?
Scott Phillips of Advanced Wireless Group identified the three Wi Fi business models currently in use at airports:
• Paid model – involves roaming fees (from providers such as AT&T), or ad hoc access (from providers such as Boingo, which requires credit card for 24-hour access).
• Free – the user immediately goes to the portal with Internet access.
• Hybrid model – involves roaming and ad hoc access plus sponsored access that is free to the user. (As a holiday promotion, Google recently announced sponsored access at 47 airports.)
Orlando Saez of Saez Brunner Capital Group advises airports to treat Wi Fi just like any other concession offering. Airport operators should consider how their passengers will use Wi Fi and consider the customer segments and classes (business travelers v. families with kids). The types of users and class of service determines the complexity of the system.
Kyle Mobley of Oakland International Airport said he was not convinced that his airport should covert from paid v. free Wi Fi. A primary reason was the potential loss of revenue. The airport hired an outside vendor to manage the infrastructure and help desk. Since it was made available, passenger use of Wi Fi at Oakland has increased from 70 to 80 log-ins in 24 hours (when the service was fee-based) to 2,000 log-ins with the current free-based system.
The airport regularly receives positive feedback from users (on Twitter and Facebook of course) and has no regrets. Mobley hopes to recover some of the lost revenue through advertising, and agrees the move to free Wi Fi was a good move, and it is fulfilling an important customer need.