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The Global Public Wi-Fi Network Grows to 50 Million Worldwide Wi-Fi Hotspots

The Global Public Wi-Fi Network Grows to 50 Million Worldwide Wi-Fi Hotspots

iPass Wi-Fi Growth Map Adds A Global Wi-Fi Leaderboard Showing US Trailing France

REDWOOD SHORES, CA.— January 20, 2015 iPass Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAS), the world’s largest commercial Wi-Fi network, today announced the iPass Wi-Fi Growth Map just marked a major global milestone, surpassing 50 million publicly available hotspots, increasing by 80% since 2013. As an enhancement to the Wi-Fi Growth Map, a dynamic real-time assessment of the rapid growth in global Wi-Fi, iPass today also unveiled the Wi-Fi Leaderboard, a scorecard that ranks countries based on the number of hotspots they have overall, as well where they stand with Wi-Fi availability in categories like in-flight and hotels. The leaderboard shows that France with over 13 million hotspots holds the top spot but that the United States is quickly gaining ground.

50 Million Worldwide Hotspots and Growing

Crossing 50 million worldwide public hotspots points to the growing strength of the global Wi-Fi network. The number of hotspots is expected to grow rapidly and to hit 340 million global hotspots by 2018. Today there is 1 Wi-Fi hotspot for every 150 people on earth. By 2018, there will be one Wi-Fi hotspot for every twenty people on earth.

“With the exponential growth in Wi-Fi and the fact that consumers show a strong preference for it, Wi-Fi is emerging as a truly global, roamable network,” says Evan Kaplan, president and CEO of iPass. “An array of businesses see the benefits of providing Wi-Fi and are making investments in building out Wi-Fi infrastructure.”

Top Three Connected Countries are:

At more than 13 million hotspots, the leaderboard is currently headed by France, which as a country invested early in expanding it’s Wi-Fi network, followed by the United States at more than 9.8 million and then the United Kingdom, at 5.6 million.

The United States is expected to jump ahead to more than 32 million total hotspots by the end of 2015 and leapfrog France. The United States’ growth is due in large part to community hotspots where broadband operators are converting residential customers to community hotspot providers at the rate of 1 per second.

“Every household can be a part of the public Wi-Fi fabric, which is what makes Wi-Fi such a powerful and valuable network,” continued Kaplan. “Any business and any residence can now provide access, making Wi-Fi the easiest way to expand access globally.”

Wi-Fi Everywhere You Want To Be

The Wi-Fi Leaderboard also ranks the best regions for inflight Wi-Fi, best places for hotel Wi-Fi, as well as where to eat and work and still stay connected. The United States dominates the inflight category with 2793 planes providing Wi-Fi. This is compared to 623 planes providing Wi-Fi in the rest of the world. To see the complete Wi-Fi Leaderboard and who is topping the charts go to: http:/wifi-growth-map/ and click on Leaderboard.

iPass worked with analysts Maravedis Rethink, who conducted the research and analysis behind the creation of the iPass Growth Map. The same research provides the basis for the iPass Wi-Fi leaderboard.

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About iPass Inc.

iPass enables business travelers to stay connected by providing them with cost-effective and convenient global Wi-Fi access across smartphones, tablets and laptops. Founded in 1996, iPass (NASDAQ: IPAS) is the world’s largest commercial Wi-Fi network, covering over 120 countries and territories and selling to over 700 large corporations, telecom service providers and other strategic partners around the world. Through its cloud-based delivery model, iPass connects business travelers to over 15 million Wi-Fi hotspots in airports, airplanes, hotels and public areas. With the growing need for fast, high bandwidth connectivity, iPass lets business travelers stay close to what matters most while on the road including access to video, unified communications, web conferencing and other cloud based apps.

iPass® is a registered trademark of iPass Inc. Wi-Fi® is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

US

Asma Stewart
Tel: 650 517 3130
Email: pr@ipass.com

UK

Kewal Varia – Spark Communications
Tel: 020 7436 0420
Email: pr@ipass.com