Friday, 6 December 2002 8:30 am
The announcement yesterday that AT&T, Intel, IBM, Apax Partners and 3i are creating a new company, Cometa Networks, to establish a nationwide Wi-Fi hotspot service is a perfect example of the type of cleverly coordinated positive action by the industry that I was calling for in my Tuesday column.  Bravo AT&T, Intel, IBM, Apax, and 3i!

The Cometa service should complement the 3G packet wireless service that Sprint and other cellular carriers are rolling out, rather than compete with them. I’m sure the PCMCIA card makers will come out with cards for laptops and PDAs that can operate either in 3G or Wi-Fi mode.  If you happen to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot (airport, restaurant, etc.), the card will automatically select Wi-Fi for its higher speed.  Outside of a hotspot or while moving (in your car, etc.), it will select a 3G service such as Sprint’s.  The result will transform the nation from one with no workable wireless data infrastructure to one with a very sophisticated, nearly ubiquitous, always-on wireless data infrastructure with good bandwidth and affordable pricing.  This creates a whole new market for services that use the new wireless data services, as I discussed in my November 21 column.

What also impresses me is that this was brought about by networking together the AT&T's expertise in network infrastructure management with IBM Global Services' expertise in site installations and back-office systems.  Even more impressive, rather than finance and attempt to run the result as a joint venture, they arranged external financing by a syndicate of venture capital funds (Intel Capital, Apax, and 3i) and ceded board control to the venture creation experts - the venture capitalists.  Cometa is cleverly structured to sell its service via existing ISPs, wireless carriers, and cable operators, rather than directly to the end users.  This has many aspects of  the type of “innovation on demand” approach I talked about here on the 22'nd of November and this Wednesday, as well as in my book, which greatly improves the likelihood of success as well as the speed.