MEX Notes: Halo funded for Wi-fi offload as capacity constrains UX

Source article: Halo Networks Gets Series A Of £1.6 Million To Offload Mobile Data To WiFi
MEX note: Improving the user experience of Wi-fi offload will contribute to solving one of the industry’s largest challenges: every byte of capacity used by data generates less revenue than voice. Since data traffic on cellular networks is growing much faster than voice traffic, operators are having to build more capacity with less expectation of return. Offloading to existing Wi-fi hotspots, connected to existing wired capacity, is one of the ways cellular networks can mitigate against this picture of rising demand and lower prices. Halo is one of several companies (e.g. DeviceScape) which are trying to make this a reality by ensuring the offload is seamless and not beset by the login screens and security prompts which plague users today. Of course, as we’ve already identified in MEX Pathway #1, there is a significant opportunity here for the industry to become smarter about how network capacity is used, something which will require UX designers to think in more detail about creating services which are easy on both the eye and the network. Operators won’t be able to offload forever, eventually they’ll need to find ways to incentivise developers to use networks more efficiently.

MEX