Airborne surpasses 400-hotspot mark

Airborne Access, the country’s largest Wi-Fi hotspot network, continues to sign up well-known brands in the food services industry as it answers the consumer demand for more Wi-Fi hotspots.

Apart from this, Airborne has also catered to small- and medium-scale establishments in the fringes of urban areas in various regions of the country.

Last month, Airborne reached and surpassed the 400th hotspot count, strengthening its position as the largest hotspot network in the country.

As user growth continues to increase, Wi-Fi services are now considered vital for the hospitality and food and bev-erage industries. And Airborne has deliberately moved on to places other than cafés.

"The trend that we’re seeing now is that full-service restaurants, even fine-dining places, are looking at offering Wi-Fi to their customers," said Airborne Access CEO Jay Fajardo.

"While our partnerships with top cafés continue to be strong, we are also forging tie-ups with well-known brands in the food services industry," Fajardo said.

Add to that the ever-increasing Wi-Fi usage in Airborne’s mall hot zones like Shangri-La Plaza, Eastwood City, and Greenhills Promenade.

Airborne’s latest feather in the cap is the Max’s Restaurant group. After serving delectable fried chicken to Filipino families for the past 60 years, the group opened its doors to Airborne Access users via the LaunchPad Hotspot-in-a-Box program.

LaunchPad is Airborne’s turnkey solution that allows commercial establishments to operate their own Wi-Fi hotspots. Operators also earn from sales of Wingspan Wireless Internet prepaid cards which users can purchase on-site.

There are now 10 Max’s restaurants in the Airborne hotspot network, and more branches are being lined up.

Airborne has also deployed hotspots in or near key hospitals like Asian Hospital in Alabang; the New Medical City in Ortigas; the Makati Medical Center; and in St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

More recently, Airborne has been tapped to provide Wi-Fi access for the restaurant outlets of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, and for the various branches of Go Nuts Donuts.

Airborne has also added more hotspots in Bacolod City and Iloilo City; Baler, Aurora; Balanga, Bataan; Taytay, Rizal; Bulacan; and various parts of Tacloban City.

"These developments show the trust and confidence that establishments have placed on Airborne Access," said Airborne Access’ VP for marketing Mike Antigua.

On top of this, various hardware vendors like Nokia, Acer, ASUS and Palm have initiated tie-ups that bundle their devices with Airborne Wi-Fi access.

As new hotspots cropped up in areas that weren’t considered prime areas for growth, Airborne saw its user base grow, giving credence to the saying, "if you build it, they will come." Naturally, Airborne’s primary strategy is to roll out hotspots where there is a demand for them.

"Our aim has always been to provide laptop and PDA owners with as many Wi-Fi hotspots as realistically possible. Eventually, there will be a hotspot just a few minutes from where the user may be," Antigua said.