AT&T bought Wayport for $275 Million in Cash

Not a bad deal for the Austin company. Not a bad deal at all, especially considering the current market conditions. Back in the days when I was writing about Wi-Fi hotspots 4, 5 years ago, I predicted only a couple of companies would survive which seemed at a time an exploding market. On the list were Wayport and Boingo. Wayport was able to secure many strategic locations coveted by other companies interested in the hotspot market. Lately it also has been managing AT&T's Wi-Fi hotspot services. I further predicted that Wayport would eventually become an acquisition target, although I did not expect that it took so long.

Before fast 3G+ networks blanket the country and mass adoption of non Wi-Fi mobile broadband embedded devices, there's still a place for Wi-Fi hotspots. Large incumbent carriers like AT&T are providing Wi-Fi hotspots as a value-added feature for its broadband and mobile customers. One more reason to go get that iPhone.