The latest report from research specialist ABI Research projects rapid growth for the FMC. UMA Wi-Fi dual-mode solutions have seen some significant penetration in both Europe and North America with service providers such as T-Mobile and Orange pushing these solutions. The latest report from ABI Research, "Fixed-Mobile Convergence," examines the opportunity for UMA and SIP service in converged network services, dual-use handsets, Wi-Fi access points, picocells and femtocells. It includes a review of the current standards position and activities of the major vendors. The company forecasts a total of 103 million access points of UMA and SIP types in service by 2013.

As Vice-President and Research Director, Stuart Carlaw, explains: "We expect cellular-based femtocells to have taken over the baton from UMA- and SiP-based Wi-Fi solutions by 2013, seizing 62-percent of the market. Although UMA-based Wi-Fi solutions have seen early gains in greenfield markets, these solutions have not proliferated much outside their current carrier footprints. This can be attributed partly to the carriers’ desire to assess femtocell developments, but also to lingering concerns regarding the concept of Wi-Fi based fixed-mobile convergence."

• ABI Research

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