Blog posts – Guest Wi-Fi

Aptilo acquired by Enea

Aptilo acquired by Enea

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On behalf of Aptilo Networks, I am delighted to share some exciting news.

Enea AB, a public company based in Kista Sweden, today announced that it has acquired Aptilo Networks.
Read the press release here.

Aptilo will continue our current strategic direction and investing in new product and service innovation. Aptilo will continue to operate under our own brand and retain the current leadership structure. This will allow us to maintain our strong leadership in Wi-Fi Service Management and grow our new service offerings within IoT Connectivity Management as planned.

With a clear product and strategy alignment between the two companies, we anticipate significant benefits for our customers. Being part of Enea will strengthen our partnerships with existing and new customers as well as further enhance our capabilities particularly in areas of Network Virtualization, 5G core functions and Traffic Intelligence & Management.

A global supplier of innovative software products for 4G and 5G mobile core, Enea has operated in the telecom software and services market for more than forty years, demonstrating strong financial stability and innovation. Recognizing Aptilo as a leader in Wi-Fi and IoT connectivity management, Enea announced that the planned acquisition strengthens their data management portfolio, expands their reach with existing and new customers, and creates interesting business opportunities in the fields of 5G, Internet of Things, and SaaS. To learn more about Enea, visit: www.enea.com.

Mobile telecommunications is in the midst of an exciting time, with 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and IoT in strong execution. We remain committed to both our employees and our customers as together we navigate the times ahead!

Paul Mikkelsen
CEO

Webinar: Operator B2B Wi-Fi services

Webinar: Operator B2B Wi-Fi services

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Retail, healthcare, hospitality, municipalities, airports and the enterprise sector. As a service provider you can tap into these business-to-business (B2B) opportunities when developing your B2B Wi-Fi offerings with a managed guest Wi-Fi service.

But there is so much more to gain from B2B Wi-Fi services, than just the additional revenue as such. Learn more on the dynamical effects B2B Wi-Fi have on a service provider’s business and how it can pave the way for Small-Cells and IoT business.

Topics covered include:

  • Carrier Wi-Fi is evolving.
  • The dynamic effects of an operator managed guest Wi-Fi service.
  • Site acquisition, how can a B2B guest Wi-Fi service help?
  • Can Wi-Fi be a vehicle to deploy small cells?
  • Is Hotspot 2.0 / Passpoint really what a business customer wants?
  • How the right captive portal design can increase revenue by 15%.
  • Critical success factors for a B2B guest Wi-Fi service?
  • What about privacy and legislations such as GDPR?
  • It’s not just about connecting people anymore, Wi-Fi IoT is a new opportunity.
VIEW ON-DEMAND
Zlatan & Aptilo have one thing in common

Zlatan & Aptilo have one thing in common

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Like the great Swede Zlatan Ibrahimović, Aptilo scored a hat trick this week being nominated for THREE Wi-Fi NOW Awards! We started out in 2001 as well… Congrats to Zlatan for his award nominations and congrats to the Aptilo team!

  • Nominated for Best Wi-Fi Internet of Things (IoT) Product, providing zero touch connectivity for Wi-Fi based IoT devices.
  • Aptilo’s work with pioneering carrier Swisscom has been nominated for Best Wi-Fi Service Provider.
  • Aptilo SMP’s Consent and Personal Data Management Solution, nominated for Best Service Provider Wi-Fi Solution.

READ MORE

We are not exhibiting at Wi-Fi NOW this year, but we will sure to attend and hopefully pick up a few awards. See you at Wi-Fi Now Berlin! You should really go there, previous year’s events have been some of the best Wi-Fi events ever.

Targeted Wi-Fi advertising

Monetizing free Wi-Fi using ads

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Monetize with advertising: 60 percent want real-time offers

Advertising is one of the most popular ideas for how to monetize a free Wi-Fi service. And, it is a great idea. Most customers accept that if they consume a free service, then they are the product.

Supported also through research is that the majority (60 percent) of consumers want real-time offers while visiting a store. Most of them (57 percent) will share their location, age and gender to get relevant advertising.

Relevant is the keyword here. If you know you have to watch advertising in exchange for the Wi-Fi access, the ads might just as well be about an interesting subject.

WI-FI ADVERTISING CHALLENGES

Relevance is crucial for the whole business model of Wi-Fi advertising.

  • LOW VOLUME OF "EYEBALLS"

    If you think you can be profitable just by delivering random adverts, then think again! Such an approach comes with challenges. The advertising market is built for websites and blogs with huge volumes of users. The market price for a random advert is around 5.8 USD cents per click. Meaning 1,000 clicks is 58 USD, which is not much to build your Wi-Fi business on.

  • VENUES WANT TO APPROVE ADS

    In addition, the venue owners may want to approve the ads.

  • USERS ARE FORCED TO WATCH

    Furthermore, users are forced to watch the ads, but are they really paying attention?

A video view or app download pays better. Likewise, a premium location such as an airport with a monthly potential audience of a few million people, can bring in substantial money for an exclusive sponsorship. We have seen customers getting 70,000 USD/month. Some of our customers are using shared sponsorships where the user can select from three sponsors. The user then has to watch a video, look at a banner or take part in a survey to gain access.

IT’S ALL ABOUT QUALITY AND NOT VOLUME

  • TARGETED AUDIENCE

    To make Wi-Fi advertising work, you must go for quality and not volume.

  • COLLECT PERSONAL DATA

    It starts with collecting relevant data about the users. Otherwise your can’t offer a targeted audience and will have to settle for the 5 EUR cents per click. With relevant data you will achieve a win-win-win situation.

  • ADVERT FITS USER’S INTEREST

    Consumers win because they will only get advertising they are interested in. Advertisers win because they get a targeted audience. You win because you get more revenue.

  • UNIQUE AUDIENCE

    Think in segments. Adverts targeting men aged 40-50 travelling between Stockholm and London at least three times a month, pays better than broadly targeting all people using a smartphone. Similarly, a detailed survey eliciting responses to somewhat sensitive questions, pays better than one with a few general questions. However, don’t overdo it with too complicated survey forms. What’s the point in designing a quick and easy on-boarding of users if they then have to wade through a 30-question form?

PRIVACY AND PORTAL DESIGN MATTER

Never forget that privacy matters. Thus, you have to make sure that your marketing is privacy-protected. Learn more from this press release and our consent & personal data management section.

Portal design is crucial for your success. You must design portals primarily for mobile devices and in a way that makes it easy for people to complete the sign-up. By changing the portal design, one of our operator customers improved the rate of successful sign-ups by 15 percent overnight! For them, it meant 15 percent more income from adverts, by just changing the mobile user experience. Stay tuned, we’ll share that success story in an upcoming article.