BOONTON, N.J.-A new study from Insight Research predicts a new generation of smart-phone technology is poised to compete with fixed-line phones.
This new generation of phones will make use of Wi-Fi hot spots, Voice over Internet Protocol technology and voice over wireless local area networks to create a single smart phone capable of following customers from home to the office, said the report, “Fixed Mobile Convergence: Single Phone Solutions for Wireless, Wireline and VoIP Convergence 2005-2010.”
Insight said there are four adoption scenarios for fixed-mobile convergence, including substitution of cellular usage for landline usage; use of a dual-mode handset to carry VoIP on a wireless LAN inside a home or office combined with cellular service for other locations; the integration of digital subscriber line or cable modem service with a VoWLAN in a home as well as cellular service outside the home; and a fixed-cellular technology that uses equipment to emulate a fixed phone using cellular technology.
“The dynamic is unmistakable: fixed lines for phones have been declining at a 3-percent rate for the last several years, while the number of Americans opting for cell-phone calling keeps increasing,” said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight. “If you are a fixed-line provider this trend means trouble. Many of the fixed-mobile convergence strategies under consideration end up utilizing a smart phone or dual-mode VoWLAN/cellular phone that works like a landline phone in the local area and then converts to cell-phone calling.”
