Global spending on wireless local area network (WLAN) equipment, which provides users with high-speed Web access using radio signals, rose 38% to $2.3 billion in 2002, according to Gartner Inc.'s
Dataquest -- that's a total of 15 million adapters and 4.4 million access points and gateways. Gartner forecasts 23 million users of WLAN hot spots in Europe by 2007, when the technology will account
for 30% of the global market. Prices on average fell 37% in 2002, and Gartner forecasts a further 25% fall in 2003. Spend in Europe accounted for less than 20% in 2002 and is forecast to grow to 30%
by 2007.
