Ericsson is to buy outdoor Wi-Fi vendor BelAir Networks, according to GigaOM sources, suggesting the Swedish infrastructure company is looking to Wi-Fi as a way to relieve increasingly under pressure cellular networks. Financial details were not suggested. BelAir Networks and Ericsson both declined to comment on the rumour when approached by Mobile Business Briefing.

Canada-based BelAir makes high-performance outdoor Wi-Fi technology. Customers including AT&T, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable use BelAir Networks’ high-capacity long-range access points in their outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots.

Other players in the outdoor Wi-Fi space include Ruckus Wireless and Israel-based Wavion. Ruckus agreed a deal with Japanese operator KDDI last year to roll out 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Many mobile users make use of home, office or public Wi-Fi networks in order to access the internet without using up their mobile data allowance. Ericsson’s potential interest in Wi-Fi could persuade more operators to incorporate Wi-Fi into their networks. BelAir Networks provides dual-mode access points for Wi-Fi and cellular, which would make its relatively efficient for Ericsson to combine the technology.