AT&T Acquires Wayport For $275 Million

AT&T acquired Wayport today for $275 million. Wayport is a Wi-Fi hotspot operator and this indicates plans for expanding the AT&T Wi-Fi network.

The inclusion of Wayport into the AT&T fold boosts the carrier's Wi-Fi coverage over the 20,000 mark domestically. This also bumps up AT&T's global Wi-Fi hotspot count to 80,000. This was actually a pretty good move on the carrier's part because it expands something that's already working.

If you think about it, Wayport is already in charge of the McDonald's Wi-Fi system and actually run a part of AT&T's Starbucks Wi-Fi offerings. It was a match made in heaven. AT&T has really been jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon as of late, with the carrier offering Wi-Fi to iPhone users and broadband customers for free. This seems like the next logical step.