WiFi phones will grow mobile market

Mobile operators will be offering wireless phones from 2006, according to a new report from Senza Fili. Uh, that’s wireless as in “Wi-Fi”, not wireless as in “no cord”. Anyway, mobile operators are planning to deploy UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) technology over the next 12 months to allow people to roam between mobile networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and have revenues of “$1.6 billion by 2010 in the US alone, with over 26 million subscribers”. I can see a lot of people flocking to the service when it’s available, but I’m skeptical that the technology will be commonplace within the next few years. “North America will be the largest and one of the first markets to launch UMA services, “said Monica Paolini, author of the report, “Mobile operators see WiFi and cellular convergence as a cost-effective way to improve residential coverage, increase ARPU, and keep churn down.” It seems like every new technology or strategy promises to increase ARPU and reduce churn…

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