Retail will be FMC champion

The take-up of the latest must-hype telecoms technology, fixed mobile convergence, or FMC, will vary dramatically according to industry.

A report from researchers IDC found that retail will be one of the early adopters of FMC along with business services - around 45 per cent of European companies in these two markets will have adopted FMC within two years of converged services becoming available.

FMC allows users to make calls over both VoIP and mobile networks from a single handset.

The analysts found that around 30 per cent of companies will begin to change their telecoms plans once FMC becomes available.

Converged fixed-mobile services are increasingly being offered by telcos in the UK. Both BT and Orange now offer services where a single handset can make calls over both cellular and wi-fi networks.

The research from IDC also found businesses primarily citing cost reduction as the main driver for investment in the technology. A separate study by Analysys recently found FMC could cut enterprise voice bills by 30 per cent.