It was a busy week in the Fixed Mobile Convergence (News - Alert) sector. Here are some of the major stories from TMCnet.
It was reported that the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group will now go under the name of M3AAWG, where M3 is the abbreviated version of Messaging, Malware and Mobile. M3AAWG has been urging the industry to provide improved protection to end users.
In another story, TMCnet’s Julie Griffin reports that a U.S. government agency has turned down RIM [Research In Motion], the makers of BlackBerry (News 
- Alert), in favor of something more “progressive.” The General Services Administration rejection is not the first major blow dealt to BlackBerry, and the fate of this brand has been looking grim for some time. But the brand was once the only of its kind to be trusted by the U.S. government.
In another government-related story, a new FCC requirement has been rolled out that requires all public safety, industrial and business licensees that operate two-way radios to be narrowband compliant. It goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2013. However, this new requirement is being misinterpreted by scammers who are trying to make it appear that everyone operating radios will suffer as these radios will be useless when the deadline is reached.
Ben Burns, CEO of Discount Two-Way Radio, said that the bad publicity being created is a ploy designed to make consumers think they must buy new and expensive digital radios before 2013. He explained that companies or organizations that operate radios that have been purchased by Discount Two-Way Radio have no reason to be worried at all.
In another report on TMCnet, ABI Research says that the rapid growth in mobile applications has spawned a number of different revenue models. Paid (News - Alert) apps and in-app purchases are rising, and ad-supported models are gaining momentum as well, says ABI. Consequently, the market for overall mobile apps is projected to soar in next few years. Total mobile app revenues from pay-per-download, in-app purchase, subscriptions, and in-app advertising will jump from $8.5 billion in 2011 to $46 billion in 2016, ABI said.
And a report by Analysys Mason surfaced Wednesday stating that retail telecom revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa will grow dramatically over the next five years, increasing from $40 billion in 2010 to $69 million in 2016, with most of the retail revenue coming from mobile voice services at an estimate compound annual growth (CAGR) of about 9 percent annually.
Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
