Digital Trends' Nino Marchetti writes today that a new report from ABI Research predicts that the number of hotspots worldwide will grow by nearly 25% by the end of the year, to 179,500.

"Almost three-quarters of these hotspots are found in Europe and North America," Marchetti writes. "In Asia, meanwhile, growth in China is slower than thought, though the rest of the region will come close to matching the number of North American hotspots by 2012. Europe, for its part, is the current leader with over 70,000 hotspots."

"The growing Wi-Fi hotspot market is fueling a demand for Wi-Fi access points,"
says ABI Research vice president Stan Schatt. "More than 900,000 access points will be shipped this year specifically for use in hotspots. Not only are hotspot and subscriber numbers growing, but we have observed a dramatic increase in the number of Wi-Fi sessions per subscriber. This means that subscribers are connecting more often to check their e-mail and surf the Internet."

The press release is here.