From Hype to Reality: A Case Study on the Evolution of the Swiss WISP Industry

The emerging use of WLAN technologies to provide WISP services in public locations has been a hot topic in the mobile industry as it threatened traditional mobile operator business models and their revenues. In contrast, some observers argued that this was simply an unjustified hype as WLAN would play a minor role or be integrated by mobile operators in their offerings. This paper studies the evolution of the WISP industry in Switzerland with two case studies. The first conducted in 2002 at the emergence of the industry to show how the hype surrounding WLAN resulted in the creation of a new industry attracting firms with various business models. The second conducted in 2006 after a period of consolidation to see how the industry evolved and whether the initial hype actually materialized.