China's hotspot market grows, but users don't follow: The payment system might be hampering some of the growth of various networks throughout and near China. The cost also seems incredibly out of line: China Netcom charges US$3.62 per hour and service must be purchased in advance using a hard-to-find prepaid card. China Netcom has just about 160 locations, most of which were installed nearly a year ago.
Shanghai Telecom has several hundred hotspots, and pushed usage initially through an ADSL bundle. China Mobile has nearly 1,500 hotspots, but they allow users to pay via their cellular phone bill using SMS to confirm purchase of time.
South Korea's usage is mentioned in passing: with tens of thousands of hotspots in that country, hundreds of thousands of people are regular users.