Confidence in Wi-Fi grown, WBA report shows

Of those respondents, 25% were already rolling out the technology, 42% said they would deploy in 2025 and 27% are planning for 2026. This enthusiasm is driven largely by the benefits such as automatic authenticated connections that seamlessly move between Wi-Fi and cellular networks (5G/LTE), enhanced security and the end user experience. 

The report also discovered that confidence to invest in Wi-Fi is accelerating due to its cost effectiveness and new standards delivering performance. Three fifths (60%) stated they were more confident investing, while 19% said they were less confident. 19% said that their outlook had not changed from its previous position.

In response to the question of why they planned to invest in OpenRoaming or Passpoint compliant networks, the most popular response was to enable seamless access between Wi-Fi and 5G/LTE (44%), followed closely by providing improved security on Wi-Fi (43%). The third most popular reason was frictionless access to Wi-Fi (39%), with enabling seamless access across different networks close behind (38%).

Respondents also reported that 37% had deployed Wi-Fi 6E, with 19% stating they had deployed the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, despite it being a new technology still in its earlier adoption phase. Some 27% said they had already deployed Wi-Fi Sensing, and 17% had done the same for Wi-Fi HaLow.

On the cellular side, 20% said they had deployed CBRS (Citizen Broadband Radio Service), with 5G scoring 37% by this same measure. Some 30% said they had already deployed private cellular (some of which could be counted in the other responses), and 24% said they had deployed Distributed Antenna Systems. Notably, 24% said they already have AI or Cognitive access networks.  

Other notable findings include:

• 90% reported that 6Ghz spectrum was important to their businesses. 23% of those respondents categorized it as critical, while only 9% of the overall sample said it would not be important for them.

• Network security and privacy (78%) is the most important area of Wi-Fi for respondents. This was followed by monetising Wi-Fi services (70%), with Wi-Fi calling scoring 70%. IoT was close behind (68%), followed by roaming (65%) and end-user QoE and QoS (65%).

• Transportation hubs expected to be biggest area of traffic growth. 47% of respondents suggested that transportation hubs (stations, airports, etc.) are expected see the greatest growth in traffic in the next year. Retail was next, scoring 38%, with ground transportation (the vehicles themselves) in third place, with a 37.6% response rate.

• 46% plan to deploy city-wide Public Wi-Fi in 2025/2026. 23% saying this would happen in 2027, and 11% saying it would happen in 2028 or beyond. 15% had already deployed a city-wide public Wi-Fi network.

“The WBA Industry Report 2025 gives all readers a clear view on the exciting juncture the world of Wi-Fi is at, and the momentum behind technologies such as OpenRoaming, Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi HaLow. Confidence to invest in Wi-Fi is growing, and industry members want to realise the benefits they offer such as lowering costs, simplifying management and improving the end-user experience," Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the WBA. “OpenRoaming has been a key focus in 2024 for the WBA and played a pivotal role in the activities of the Alliance, in part due to the growing number of global deployments but also from the ways it’s addressing verticals such as Guest Wi-Fi, IoT, Private Cellular and more. I feel confident that this momentum will grow exponentially in the years ahead.”