1. 4G and Wi-Fi Change The Wireless Game
Jeff Thompson
Towerstream CEO

2. Jeff Thompson, CEO Towerstream
Towerstream is a leading 4G service provider delivering high speed wireless Internet access to businesses in major U.S. markets.
Jeff has over 10 years experience building wireless networks.
Jeff co-founded Towerstream in December 1999 and serves as President and CEO. He has overseen Towerstream’s growth by establishing robust wireless networks in 11 U.S. cities, including Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, among others.

3. Current State of Wireless
Smartphone Penetration: Verizon expects at least 50% of its customers to own a smartphone by the end of 2011
Tablet Explosion: By 2015, 63.3 million tablets are projected to be in use by consumers – Yankee Group
Data Usage Skyrockets: Mobile data traffic is expected to double each year through 2014, increasing to 17 times above 2010 levels – Cisco

4. Wireless Network Congestion
To cope with expected increases in mobile data traffic, major wireless carriers are investing billions of dollars in 3G and 4G network technologies
However, these investments are not anticipated to fully relieve the current strain on networks
Verizon has reported that its LTE upgrade will increase capacity 4x, but mobile data consumption is expected to increase 39x by 2014, according to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index

5. 4G Networks Can’t Do it Alone
How can these next-generation wireless networks keep up with the staggering amount of data consumption among smartphone and tablet users? As data-hungry smartphones and tablets continue their exponential growth, it is clear that current 3G and 4G networks are not sufficient to handle this massive increase in data transfer alone.

6. Wi-Fi Gains Momentum
According to Deloitte, mobile data downloaded from public Wi-Fi networks will grow by 25-50% in 2011 – much faster than the growth of data carried over cellular broadband networks
Video is the key driver of data traffic from smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices
Wi-Fi is likely to become the default network for video applications
The shift from “all-you-can-eat” mobile data plans to capped monthly usage will further drive Wi-Fi growth
Example: One hour of video streaming at 500 kbit/s would eat up the entire allowance of a monthly data plan capped at 200 mb

7. Wi-Fi Complements Cellular Broadband
The battle between Wi-Fi and cellular broadband is not a zero-sum game: Both can be winners
Mobile providers must offer a range of wireless and wireline technologies and help their customers tap into the right mix
The goal for carriers should be to make the entire connected experience as seamless as possible for consumers through both next-gen broadband networks and Wi-Fi deployments

8. How Does Wi-Fi Data Offloading Work?
Data traffic offload via Smart Wi-Fi
Smart Wi-Fi backhaul
Buffered authentication and roaming transactions
Flexible, dynamic tunneling options

9. 4G Will Make Wi-Fi Offloading Easier
With the flexibility to handle voice, data, and video over Internet Protocol, 4G networks will make Wi-Fi data offloading more accessible
Due to packet-based data transfer, 4G makes offloading of lower-margin bits a reality

10. Wi-Fi Network Expansion in New York City
Coverage
Covering approximately 40% of NYC
1000 access points by mid-year
Capacity
Network has 20 times the capacity of
proposed LTE network of 2013
Speed
One of the fastest portable networks in
Manhattan

11. Wi-Fi: The Demand Is There
It is clear that major wireless carriers view Wi-Fi as an important part of their business moving forward
Towerstream’s Manhattan pilot network experienced millions of connections in the months following launch
Roughly 250,000 connections per day without marketing effort

12. Thank You Questions?