With the advent of hotspots, this unlikely will be the last of repeater system owners leaving the repeater system scene. We have several large repeater network systems in California, but especially in the case of digital modes, the number of users is dwindling due to cheap availability of hotspot technology such as pi-star, mode linking, Wires-X, and other new technology. Fewer and fewer new hams are willing to contribute time and money to maintain legacy systems.
I've talked to long-time repeater owners and it is very difficult to find younger people needed to maintain these systems for another generation. That, together with cost of some repeater sites, and the time involved in maintaining these sites, will eventually lead IMHO to more shut-downs of such systems. I believe the repeater-system landscape will change and decrease dramatically as the current generation of owners are no longer able to maintain and promote such systems.
Hotspots and IP linking are great, no argument there. We use a VoIP connection to link our sites. However, they both function quite well as standalone systems, even without the link. In general, I think we'll start to have problems when we rely
too much on hotspots and IP connections made over terrestrial wireline, be it copper or fiber. That's
any radio system's Achilles heel, amateur, commercial, or public safety. The whole point of having radio communications with minimal infrastructure involved is that it works sans terrestrial wireline networks. That's a little hard to do if everybody is relying on HTs and hot spots.
I do think we're going to see fewer high-site, high-profile amateur systems in the years to come. Many of these spots are rented or leased, and they do get quite expensive just to pay the rent for the position at the site. Add in the cost of maintenance, repairs, and upgrades, and its easy to see why people would want to get out of it. I won't even mention insurance. With changes in ownership and corporate consolidation always going on, it could be a nightmare. Then there's the lawyers. Unless you have an "in" with a site and/or can get access for cheap or free, it could easily turn into a money pit just to keep a system up, let alone build out anything new.