HQWiFi founder and technical director Uan Spijkerbosch said he and his four full-time Queenstown staff were working hard to maintain the 67 Wi-Fi hotspots they installed in the resort and the extra 53 hotspots located in Arrowtown and Wanaka, all installed since 2000.
There were about 10,000 visitors to Queenstown every day during peak seasons, on top of a technologically savvy resident population, and virtually everyone carried a web-enabled device.
Free and fast Wi-Fi has quickly become a deciding factor for tourists in choosing where to sleep, shop and spend that many establishments make a point of advertising Wi-Fi capability.
Asked why some hotels charged guests up to $60 a day for often slow internet access, Mr Spijkerbosch said some multinational hotels were still bound by contracts signed by head office on the old model where the user paid, instead of the provider, although many such contracts were due to expire.
The entrepreneur said he read with interest Queenstown Times reports about Telecom's success with its free trial Wi-Fi service in the resort during summer.
Telecom said more than 3000 people were logging on to the regional service each day since its mid-December launch. This was about 10% of the whole user population across the country, across more than 43 locations New Zealand-wide.
Telecom said Queenstown Wi-Fi was the most popular service in the Southern Lakes, with more than 250 users per day, although users in Wanaka, Lake Hawea and Arrowtown were also accessing the service regularly.
The picture of the resort as a growing hub for global telecommunications becomes sharper when HQWIFI user numbers are factored in.
''We've been recording usage of all 20 of our free services since December 19. In this time we've had a total of 14,540 users, with 3900 users on the Arrowtown service alone.
''This works out to be about 362 per day. Our free usage is unlimited in data and ranges from 15 minutes to two hours, depending on the location and the arrangement we have in place with the host.
''Our login page is viewed on average 1000 times per day ... 2000 per day during winter.''
Mr Spijkerbosch started in the internet business by setting up public coin-operated internet kiosks in 2004 and created a wireless network to support them. However, the kiosks proved to be cost-prohibitive and demand for use of the network escalated, which prompted HQWiFi to phase out the kiosks, as devices became more portable, and continue the network.
Today the company offers a mix of free services in restaurants, cafes, accommodation providers and street side, as well as with the Queenstown Lakes District Council and Destination Queenstown.
Lakes Leisure introduced a free permanent HQWiFi service in the Queenstown Events Centre in December.
''We're in the process of upgrading our services to fibre, doubling data on our prepaid and account plans as well as providing a HQWiFi@Home service which allows high-speed access at home and roaming within our sites around the region.''
Asked if he thought free public Wi-Fi could be introduced permanently into downtown Queenstown, Mr Spijkerbosch estimated it would cost ratepayers $400,000 to set up the service and $200,000 a year to maintain it.
''I don't think it's affordable and I don't think it's really needed. Why should the council provide a service that businesses are keen to provide for free?''
