Military connectivity is major revenue driver for Boingo
While Boingo Wireless is largely known for providing Wi-Fi at large venues like stadia and airports, the company provides a range of services including Wi-Fi and TV for service men and women living in military barracks throughout the U.S. and in South Korea and Japan.
Based on the company’s Q4 2017 financial results, announced in February, military revenue grew 37.2% compared to Q4 2016 to $15.1 million. Wholesale Wi-Fi-related revenue totaled $9.1 million and DAS revenue came in at $24 million.
During the recent Oracle Industry Connect event in Manhattan, Boingo Wireless Chief Technology Officer Derek Peterson said the goal with its military-facing offering was “to find a way to create something the service member could take with them as they move from building to building, base to base. It started off focusing on how do we do it for one base, then how do we do it for all of them, then how do we do it in more and more locations?”
Peterson, who served in the U.S. Air Force, emphasized service continuity between military locations as an essential part of creating a strong value proposition for military users. He said Boingo provides coverage at more than 2,000 buildings including barbershops and bowling alleys.
Going forward, “A couple things we’re looking at is, of course, gaming, which is a huge thing on bases. So, creating virtual gaming environments for them is something that we’re working towards, as well as the whole IoT thing–having their Alexa connect and having a virtual network even though they’re sharing the SSID, they don’t want their Alexa to connect to someone else’s device.”
Peterson continued: “As you move forward, you start wanting that peer-to-peer, stream from your phone to your TV. You want to create virtual networks. Giving our customers the ability to do that would be another great opportunity for us to find a way to monetize networks.”
