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October 28, 2008
Report: FMC Equipment to Grow 16 Percent, to $7.6 Billion, in 2008
By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor
Sales of dual mode cellular-WiFi phones hit $7.6 billion in the second quarter of 2008 and are expected to be up 16 percent for the entire year, according to a Campbell, California-based IT research firm.
Officials at Infonetics Research say the figures – laid out in a report titled “FMC Equipment, Phones, and Subscribers” – indicated healthy growth for converged cellular and WiFi services in the enterprise and consumer markets.
According to Stephane Teral (News - Alert), a principal analyst at Infonetics and co-author of the report, UMA dominates the worldwide seamless FMC market – a two-horse race between T-Mobile USA and Orange in Europe, which now is launching 3G UMA.
“In addition, Rogers Wireless (News - Alert) has now joined the UMA bandwagon in North America,” Teral said. “We expect all the phone and equipment segments in the niche FMC market to grow rapidly, with the economic downturn actually making T-Mobile USA’s offering more attractive to stretched consumers.”
According to the report, the number of worldwide seamless FMC subscribers is rising rapidly, jumping from 1.7 million in 2007 to 9.7 million in 2008.
The firm’s projections on worldwide revenues from FMC network element and dual-mode cellular-WiFi phones are shown in the chart on the right.
Officials at Infonetics are calling for the new worldwide FMC network – including UMA network controllers, voice call continuity application servers and multi-access convergence gateways – to grow seven-fold between 2007 and 2011.
The biannual report relies on information from companies that include Alcatel-Lucent, Apple, Azaire Networks, Ericsson, HTC, Kineto Wireless, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Nortel, Panasonic, RIM, Sagem, Samsung (News - Alert), Sony Ericsson, TCL, Toshiba and ZTE.
According to the report, Nokia was the worldwide dual mode cellular/WiFi phone market share leader by far in the second quarter, followed by Samsung, which has been consistently ramping up sales.
Also, Infonetics says, Ericsson (News - Alert) leads the worldwide UMA network controller market, followed by Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent. The firm also says that the multi-access convergence gateway market is building some momentum, with strong activity in India and growing interest in other parts of the world.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is The Compelling ROI Benefits of Contact Center Quality and Performance Management Technologies, brought to you by Voice Print International (News - Alert).
Michael Dinan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Michael’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Michael Dinan
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