US company to deploy thousands of wi-fi points in major tech hub of China

A California-based technology company is partnering with a major Chinese media company to deploy wireless Internet across the city of Shenzhen, a major tech hub in China.

Ruckus Wireless will be working with Shenzhen Topway Video Communication, a Shenzhen television station and joint-stock enterprise, to deploy thousands of wi-fi access points across the city in major retail stores, restaurants, hospitals, transportation hubs, public streets, and other indoor and outdoor public venues.

Topway Video will be deploying Ruckus's wi-fi technology to deliver free Internet connection to millions across China's fifth largest city, the companies announced on Feb 9. The companies have been deploying access points through last year, and will continue to to do so this year, though a Ruckus company executive declined to specify an exact number.

"That particular market is one of the hottest markets in Asia just because of the technology advances and because of the number of people. China has become the most aggressive market in terms of deploying wi-fi on the planet - if not the most aggressive - and that bodes well for people like us that deliver super fast, super quality wi-fi," David Callisch, vice-president of corporate marketing at Ruckus, told China Daily.

Topway Video is one of Shenzhen's largest broadband service providers as well as multimedia content provider, delivering video across the city to more than 1 million cable digital television subscribers and 217,000 cable broadband users.

"In deploying municipal wi-fi networks, traditional w-fi systems often suffer from a series of problems such as wireless signal interference, uneven coverage, unstable performance and frequent dropouts," said Fu Dali, general manager of Topway Video's broadband division, in a statement.

"The Ruckus products have a unique smart antenna technology and industry-leading wi-fi signal coverage, which ensures a better user experience," he said.

Ruckus Wireless, based in Sunnyvale, California, supplies wireless systems for service providers like Topway, and deploys its technology at a number of railway stations in Shanghai to connect consumers at the stations with up-to-date information on daily service.

"We're seeing hotels and every public kind of venue you can imagine, seeing wi-fi now no longer as just an amenity, but as a necessary way to engage with their customers because all their customers have iPhones or smart devices," Callisch said. "They're looking for ways to engage with customers using wi-fi as that connection point."

Shenzhen is also a major technology hub, and home to tech companies like Tencent, ZTE, and Huawei, along with other well-known enterprises like China Merchants Bank and Pingan Insurance.

"With a city so big with so many people, one of the big problems is getting the users connected at the same time to a given access point," said Callisch. "In a home, you're talking about three or four people, but outside, you're talking about hundreds of concurrent, simultaneous users being on the network at the same time. You have to be able to accommodate for that."

The two companies' deployment of wi-fi access comes as Chinese residents across the country begin to make travel plans to return home for the Lunar New Year, most of whom rely on public transport like long-distance buses and railways. On Feb 7, the Zhongjiao Huineng Information Technology Corporation announced that it would be supplying free wi-fi service on more than 10,000 long-distance buses traveling along Jiangsu province for the Lunar New Year.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com