12 airports, 565 hotels now have Wayport Wi-Fi

AUSTIN, Texas -- With installations at 565 hotels and 12 airports, Wayport is justified in claiming to be the world's largest provider of Wi-Fi (802.11) wireless and wired high-speed Internet access. This week, Wayport passed the 2.5 million mark for customer connections, and has undertaken an extensive advertising campaign to heavily promote its high-speed Internet service to business travelers and hoteliers.

In addition to reaching the 2.5 million mark, Wayport's wired and Wi-Fi customer connections will total approximately 600,000 for 2Q 2003 (more than double from the same quarter last year), and quarter-to-quarter connections are growing by more than 29 percent. Wayport claims usage rates are as high as 20 percent of the occupied rooms in a number of its supported hotels.

"Wayport continues to be the industry leader in supporting the largest number of locations with the highest level of quality, service and meetings support. We believe the market for high-speed Internet access has just reached the tipping point," said Dave Vucina, CEO of Wayport. "Through our extensive efforts in advertising and co-marketing, Wayport will drive even more business travelers to our partner hotels and airports, giving them a competitive advantage in the marketplace."

Advertising campaign

Wayport's advertising and promotional campaign includes full-page ads in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Wired magazine; full-page ads in hospitality trade magazines including Hotels, Lodging Hospitality, Hotel & Motel Management, Hotel Business and Hospitality Upgrade; direct mail to tens of thousands of business executives and IT managers; and various co-marketing promotions with companies including Intel, Microsoft, Dell, IBM, Sony, Sharp and Palm.

"Wayport has emerged as a clear success in the Wi-Fi market," said Amy Cravens, industry analyst for Instat-MDR. "Wayport's success can largely be attributed to a model that delivers a win-win situation for Wayport and its partner locations - locations that meet the needs of business travelers, the early adopters of Wi-Fi."

One example of Wayport's efforts to drive traffic to its hotel and airport partners is the current promotion running through July in which every Dell customer who purchases a Dell notebook computer featuring Intel Centrino mobile technology receives a Wayport prepaid card. In most cases, the trial results in customer loyalty whereby business travelers return to Wayport partner locations time and again because of a seamless experience and the need for high-speed Internet access on the road.

Microsoft agreement

Also this week, Wayport announced an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to promote Wayport's service to users of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PCs, which features automatic Wi-Fi network discovery configuration capabilities.

The promotion allows customers who purchase a new Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC to sign up for 30 days of free Wi-Fi wireless and wired access by Wayport in hotels and airports.

"Windows Mobile software has always focused on keeping people totally informed, connected and entertained," said Juha Christensen, corporate vice president of the Mobile Devices Division at Microsoft. "Today, with the launch of this promotion, Windows Mobile customers can take advantage of automatic Wi-Fi configuration to connect to Wayport's Wi-Fi networks and easily realize the benefits of wireless computing in convenient locations such as hotels and airports."

Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC customers who sign up for the free trial will receive 30 days of unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi Internet connectivity in more than 500 hotels, including such brands as Loews Hotels, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels, Embassy Suites and more, as well as Wi-Fi access in seven major airports: Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle-Tacoma, San Jose, LaGuardia, Austin-Bergstrom and Oakland.

"Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PCs is yet another example of the viability of Wi-Fi," said Dan Lowden, vice president of marketing for Wayport. "Our promotion with Microsoft gives mobile users, especially business travelers, a tremendously powerful high-speed wireless connectivity solution where they need it most: in hotels and airports."