O2 has been deploying Cisco access points inside popular venues and coffee shops for its own Wi-Fi service after it ended a partnership with Wi-Fi service provider The Cloud . And now, the operator has put Ruckus access points on lampposts in the U.K. capital city for a metro small-cell network.
"When we first went to market with Wi-Fi, we went through a process. ... At that time, we picked Cisco," says Gavin Franks, managing director at O2 Wi-Fi, a business unit within Telefonica UK. "When we came to do metro, we did a formal RFP process and for various reasons, Ruckus came out on top."
Franks notes that now O2 can support Ruckus as well as Cisco for its free Wi-Fi services.
The face-off between the two vendors comes at an exciting time for the small-cell infrastructure market, as mobile operators deepen their embrace of Wi-Fi and make it a critical part of their mobile broadband networks. So there's bound to be more vendor ruckuses in the near future (come on, come on...).
For more
- Mobile Ops Can Learn From Wi-Fi, Cisco Says
- Cisco Works With AT&T Et Al on First Small Cell
- Wi-Fi 'Wild West' Challenges Carriers
- More IPO Ruckus
— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile
I think operator Wi-Fi deployments will all be made up of multiple access vendors, which is good news for smaller players. There should be room for most of them.