FON: A Social Collaborative Technological Entrepreneurship

Abstract

FON is a revolution, or at least is defined as such on its Web page (http://en.fon.com) and the multiple posts that inundate the blogsphere. Its objective is to create a universal and unified Wi-Fi network that allows the members of its community to share not only bandwidth, but also experiences and ideals. FON is a virtual community of Wi-Fi users worldwide making use of spare bandwidth from customers’ broadband connections. This enormous Wi-Fi network, practically free of charge, is the new project of Martin Varsavsky, an entrepreneur who in the past 20 years has created seven innovative businesses, nearly all in the high tech sector. The generalization of broadband connections and the development of Wi-Fi and WiMax wireless technologies will change the competitive landscape of the telecommunications sector, which will lead businesses to retool their business models, both with relation to Internet and mobile telephones. With its visionary nature, FON is trying to position itself in this new context and for this purpose has the financial and strategic support of top companies such as Google, eBay, and Skype.