Billing Concepts nabs Wi-Fi customer

SAN DIEGO--Billing Concepts announced at this week’s Broadband Wireless World conference here that hot-spot management company NetNearU is the charter customer for its eZ-Wi clearing and settlement service, which was introduced last September.

The eZ-Wi service is designed to help ease subscriber connections to Wi-Fi hotspots by letting them log on using their existing accounts, provided their ISP is a participant, said Ash Hornbeck, product manager for Billing Concepts. The deal announced this week extends that access to the hot spots operated by NetNearU’s customers, which include several airports, hotels and convention centers.

Billing Concepts developed the service under the theory that users of hot spots in those locations are already ISP customers and are more likely to access hot spots if the log on process is simpler and faster, Hornbeck said. ISPs benefit from the service at no additional cost, he said, and operators of individual hot spots--such as customers of NetNearU--are increasingly willing to forego customer ownership because their primary interest is getting more customers on their facilities, thereby increasing revenue.

“If you’re a hot spot operator trying to sell directly to subscribers, you’re competing with the ISPs that those subscribers already have relationships with,” he said. “This is complementary.”