The number of seamless FMC phone shipments jumped 214% in 2008 over 2007. The number of seamless FMC subscribers jumped 413% to 8.6 million worldwide in 2008 and is forecast to grow nearly tenfold to 82 million by 2013, according to Infonetics.
The research firm expects the FMC and femtocell equipment markets to thrive during the current economic downturn. Orange, T-Mobile and Rogers Wireless do not plan to slow down their deployments; in fact, they see the slowdown as an opportunity to lure more FMC subscribers. Tier 1 and 2 mobile operators are also poised to invest heavily in femtocells, which they see as an alternate network to offload their RAN, as well as a means of positioning the mobile device at the heart of broadband home networking, according to Infonetics. As a result, security gateway sales are picking up, and will continue growing rapidly, driven by massive 3G femtocell deployments.
