Back FMC but ditch dual-mode phones, users told

Operators need to ditch their obsession with dual-mode phones and embrace other technologies to get fixed mobile convergence (FMC) off the ground, according to analysts.

Only just over two per cent of US mobile subscribers will own a dual-mode phone - a device which can make VoIP calls over a broadband connection as well as standard mobile-network calls - by 2010, according to analyst house Ovum.

Jan Dawson, vice president of Ovum's US enterprise practice, said operators need to embrace a much broader spectrum of approaches to FMC, including identity convergence - where users assume the same identity no matter which device they use, be it PC, PBX or mobile.

Online portals – such as Google and Yahoo! – are leading the way with identity convergence development and operators risk being left behind unless they invest in such technology, according to Ovum's research.

Cheat Sheets

♦ Mobile location-based services
♦ FMC
♦ 3G

Operators and vendors need to focus on FMC-based enterprise gateway services which will provide intelligent call routing and control to businesses that want to bring down their mobile bills, according to Ovum.

Nevertheless, operators remain keen on the dual-mode approach to FMC. Some two years after the first dual-mode product hit the UK, other analysts reckon FMC could eventually be a winner.

Juniper Research predicts dual-mode handsets will lead wi-fi VoIP sales, generating around $68bn in revenue by 2012.

A proportion of enterprises also appear to be fixed-mobile fans, with separate research predicting one in five businesses will have deployed the technology in two years' time.