Quiconnect

Apr 10, 2007

Vex to offer public WLAN access for Quiconnect’s telecom customers in Latin America & Europe

Quiconnect establishes first international integration agreement for VEX with leading British telecoms company

• Customers from the UK now provided easy Wi-Fi access as they travel in Brazil
• Over 1,000 locations in Latin America today with hotspot numbers expected to double by the end of 2007

April 10, 2007 – Quiconnect today announces a new wireless broadband integration agreement with Vex in Brazil which will result in the customers of Quiconnect’s international telecoms customers now able to receive public WLAN access at Vex-operated hotspots in Latin America and Europe.  The first Quiconnect client to be connected is a leading British telcoms company, in a project to enable its users to easily access the Vex network in Brazil while having a complete service provider branded experience as they do so. The project is expected to be live by the end of April 2007. 

Founded in 2002, Vex has pioneered the roll out of the largest Wi-Fi network in Brazil, rapidly growing to become Latin America’s number one Wi-Fi network operator. Vex operates over 1,000 hotspots in Brazil, including 46 airports, 150 hotels, numerous coffee shops, restaurants, bars, shopping centres and gyms.  With particular concentration in the main conurbations of Rio de Janeiro, Săo Paulo, Brasilia and Salvador, Vex has more than doubled locations in a year, with 2,000 sites expected by the end of 2007 as rollout is energised working with partner companies. 

For a Brazilian Wi-Fi network operator, Vex is unique in having a global presence.  It owns sites in Portugal – at key airports including Lisbon, Faro and Porto – as well as providing services (an additional 900 hotspot locations) in Spain.  Similarly, Vex today operates 160 locations in Argentina and is currently launching services in the neighbouring countries of Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay.  The company works with all the leading ISPs in Latin America including Brazil Telecom, Uol and Terra, operating as an infrastructure wholesaler.

Marcos Ferraz-Romero, Vex’s marketing manager says, “Brazil is a vibrant and growing tourist destination and a large number of international companies are present here.  The agreement with Quiconnect will see us provide public WLAN access to customers from the UK as they travel to the region and need Internet access. It is the first deal of this nature that we have done with a significant international telecom carrier of this size.”

Quiconnect supplies tools, technologies and services to enable service providers and network operators to offer their customers the ability to roam reliably, enabling a competitively priced, branded user experience across multiple networks, platforms and applications. 

The integration work being carried out by Quiconnect for Vex will mean that the telecom company’s end-users will be able to log in at any Vex-operated hotspot in Brazil to get Internet access in precisely the same way as if they were in the UK.  Access is automatic, the British telco’s brand is highly visible, and actual Internet usage is added to the user’s home bill upon their return.    

Quiconnect has been signing numerous deals, and undertaking the technical RADIUSintegration work, with the world’s leading network operators and service providers to broaden hotspot coverage for the teleco’s end-users.  This includes agreements with VSNL (India), Kubi Wireless (Spain), Hub Télécom (France), and Internet Solutions (South Africa), with others in the pipeline.

Over time it is expected that Quiconnect will bring its other carrier customers to Vex – tier 1 telecoms companies in North America, Europe and Asia - and undertake integration work so that they in turn can offer broader Wi-Fi coverage to their end-users.  

Roberto Ugolini Neto, Vex’s chief executive officer, says, “Quiconnect offers considerable value within the whole process of wireless broadband interconnectivity.  They are a trusted partner with the technical expertise and project management skills to eliminate risk for us during the integration process, while adding considerable financial benefit to our company as more people use our network, and we bill accordingly.”

Once the RADIUS integration work for inbound roaming is complete for users travelling to Vex locations, outbound services will be added so that other VEX telecoms partners can roam on Quiconnect’s telecom customers’ networks.  This is expected in the next three months.  Vex’s commercial objective is to significantly grow use of its infrastructure as Wi-Fi grows in popularity in Brazil and worldwide. 

Jeff Mabe, Quiconnect’s commercial director, says, “With double the hotspots of its nearest rival, Vex is by far the largest and most progressive Wi-Fi network operator in Latin America operating a reliable, safe and secure network.  The integration work we are doing with them supports our ethos of providing Wi-Fi access to our telecom customers at high quality, popular locations, and given the bilateral nature of the deal, we hope to work with Vex to make them a global player connected through our platform.”

Remote Authentication Dial In User Server is the most common protocol for IP mobility. Most ISPs require users to enter an user name and password to connect to the Internet.  Before access is granted, this information is passed to a Network Access Server and then to a RADIUS server.  If details are correct, the user will be provided access to the ISP, and details of when the session started and stopped will be logged so that the user can be billed accordingly.

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