Worldwide Hotspot List Tops 100,000 Mark

A directory service listing wireless hotspots said Tuesday that the number of hotspots worldwide has topped 100,000.

Overall, the number of worldwide hotspots grew 87 percent in 2005, according to JiWire. The total number of hotspots listed in its directory is now 100,355, the company said.

Besides passing the 100,000 hotspot milestone, the company noted that the three cities with the largest number of hotspots were London, New York and Paris. By contrast, the three top cities last year were Seoul, Tokyo and London, the company said in a statement.

The three top countries for hotspots were the U.S., the United Kingdom and Germany. Last year, the three top countries were the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea.

Frank Hanzlik, managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, said that the number of hotspots should continue to grow rapidly."With Wi-Fi going into a wider array of devices like portable gaming consoles, digital cameras and mobile phones, we expect public hotspots to continue to grow at a rapid rate," Hanzlik said in a statement.