AT&T loves WiFi. And it knows that you love WiFi too. So it just bought up WiFi hotspot operator Wayport for $275 million in cash. The acquisition will add about 3,000 WiFi hotspots to AT&T’s network in the U.S., bringing the total to 20,000 hotspots (including those in Starbucks and McDonald’s).
A bigger WiFi network helps AT&T’s wireless business because it provides a way to offload data-intensive traffic from its 3G cellular network to the cheaper and faster WiFi networks, where available. That is why AT&T offers free WiFI connections to all of its iPhone and Blackberry customers. Expect that trend to continue..
