T-Mobile says it has arranged roaming WiFi relationships with other carriers that will bring the total number of hotspots accessible by its customers from 12,000 to 25,000 worldwide. In the US, the number will grow from almost 6,000 to 6,500, including access points at hotels, airports and other locations. Since 2002, T-Mobile's WiFi business has gradually expanded to provide hotspots at FedEx Kinko's, Starbucks, Borders cafés, airline frequent-flyer clubs and hotels, Hyatt hotels and Red Roof Inns.
T-Mobile has also revealed some interesting stats. Since its start, there have been a total of 15 million sessions at T-Mobile hotspots, says the company. Of those sessions, more than half, or 8 million sessions, occurred last year, 3 million in the past 90 days and 1 million in the past month. T-Mobile claims to have had 450,000 active, paying customers in the past month.
For more on T-Mobile's hotspot expansion:
- read this Seattle Times article