By the end of the year there will be almost 180 thousand hot spots on the planet.

In 2007, according to a study by ABI Research , the number of Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide will increase by 25% to 1,79500. Most of them (72%) will still be in North America and Europe, but analysts point out a high increase in the number of hotspots in the Asian region, where their number will be the same as in the United States. 70 thousand hotspots are located in Europe, and about 4 thousand of them are located in McDonald's fast food.

Stan Shchat (Stan Schatt), vice president of ABI Research, said that the growth of the market stimulates demand for Wi-Fi access points. This year, their world supplies (for the organization of hotspots) will amount to 900 thousand units.

via ABI Research