Syniverse launches global wifi marketplace

Telecoms transaction processor Syniverse has launched ‘Mobile Marketplace’, which aims to facilitate the trading of wifi resource globally.

The opportunity addressed by this launch is the perceived complexity of establishing wifi roaming agreements. The ‘mobile’ aspect of the product name seems to refer to its positioning as a B2B service for MNOs and currently they largely have to arrange unique deals with each wifi provider in each geography to be able to offer wifi roaming to their customers (see diagram).

Mobile Marketplace is positioned as a ‘one stop shop’ for B2B wifi procurement, with Syniverse doing all the plumbing and dirty work so the MNO doesn’t have to. There are, of course, already wifi hotspot aggregators such as Devicescape, so this service could ultimately act as an aggregator aggregator, if you will.

“Currently the ability to easily find buyers and sellers of wifi under one roof is non-existent and becomes even more disjointed when put in a global context,” said Syniverse CMO Mary Clark, speaking to Telecoms.com. “Contrast that with consumers’ insatiable appetite for broadband, and something had to be done.

“Until now, simply establishing a wifi roaming relationship meant that each deal had to happen individually, with individual contracts, which increased overhead, complexity and frustration. Wifi’s future is all around ease of consumer access, where seamlessly my mobile device attaches to whatever wifi is available and I don’t have to do anything. And that won’t happen unless wifi roaming is enabled among the thousands of wifi providers around the world.”

Syniverse is better known for operating in the cellular space and it partnered with wifi trading specialist BandwidthX, which will continue to participate, to develop Mobile Marketplace. Syniverse did already have a wifi services suite, so this launch would appear to be an augmentation of that.