iPhone users and other AT&T subscribers will soon have an extra 20,000 wireless hotspots at their disposal. AT&T has sealed a deal to acquire Wi-Fi provider Wayport Inc, the company announced today .
Wayport runs the hotspots at McDonald’s restaurants across America, as well as at several hotels such as selected Wyndham, Marriott Vacation Club, and Four Seasons branches. It also provides Wi-Fi at HealthSouth and Sun Healthcare locations.
The move brings AT&T’s Wi-Fi locations to about 80,000 places around the country, the company says, including all U.S. Starbucks stores. Just last week, the company finally moved forward with opening those hotspots to iPhone users for free (after mistakenly announcing plans to do so twice before and then pulling back).
AT&T predicts the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices on the market to more than triple by the year 2012. Its new deal is worth $275 million and is expected to be finalized before the end of the year.
