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UK and Ireland lead the world in WiFi hotspots per capita

The west leads the world in WiFi, both in numbers and per capita. But does …

The US may lead in the sheer number of WiFi hotspots, but we shouldn't let that inflate our egos just yet; the UK and Ireland have more per capita. A recent report (PDF) by the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) gives a very thorough, global look into telecommunication technology use worldwide, and includes data from the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and China, with additional data in some areas from the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, and Spain.

The report found that 25 percent of the world's hotspots are in the US. The US also has the highest absolute number of hotspots in the world (about 26,000), but in relative terms, the UK and Ireland both came out on top with approximately 18 hotspots per 100 people, compared to the 8.8 hotspots per 100 people in the US. China and Italy had at the lowest number of hotspots, at 0.2 and 3 per 100 people, respectively.

Japan, often thought to be among the most technically-savvy countries in the world, had a surprisingly low number of hotspots for its population—it came in third-lowest with 5.3 hotspots per 100 people. However, Ofcom observed that a possible reason for this was because Japan has such a strong lead with high-speed 3G phone connections, with nearly 30 million 3G connections in the country. Italy came in second with 10.8 million 3G connections, and the US last with just 2.7 million connections.

The report also found that when it comes to watching music videos, television and news programs, file sharing, using websites to keep in touch, and using the web to meet new people, China's average for all age groups leads the world in all of the above. Unsurprising, then, is the fact that China's telecommunications revenue is the highest in the world at 4.3 percent of the GDP, with the UK closely following at 4.1 percent.

What picture does this paint of the world's use of telecommunications services? A pretty decent one, we think. Despite China's heavy use of all things Internet, WiFi hotspots don't seem to be as important to consumers there as they are in western countries. However, this could also mean that China has a huge potential market for WiFi hotspots as the country develops and more consumers begin to purchase expensive laptops that are popular in the west. On the flipside, WiFi may never take off in China and they could go the Japan route by adopting high-speed mobile connections like 3G. Even in places like the US, the land of milk and WiFi, there's no guarantee that short-range services like WiFi will maintain their lead in the future once 3G and EVDO services start to gain momentum.

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Channel Ars Technica