Sub-$10 mobile phones to replace home landlines, analyst claims

The explosion in mobile phone growth is set to continue, according to Gartner research director Robin Simpson.

By 2009 75 percent of all outgoing calls made globally would have originated from a mobile handset, predicted Simpson.

Furthermore, Simpson claimed that by 2009 at least 35 percent of current landline subscribers would have disconnected their home phones in favour of complete reliance on mobiles.

There would be at least three billion mobile subscribers worldwide by 2010, he said. This explosive growth would drive down handset costs to under $10 by 2010, according to Gartner forecasts.

To compete, standard PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) will be forced to adopt unlimited voice usage and distance agnostic pricing, according to Gartner forecasts.

Despite this, analysts say that PSTN operators face a downturn in revenue by 40 percent before the end of the decade.

Steven Stenton, product manager at NEC, believes that advances in dual-mode mobile technology would enhance the usefulness and value of mobile phones. Dual-mode phones will use VoIP at home utilising a wireless network or wireless hotspot, switching only to a standard mobile network when the user is out of range of a wireless network signal.

Enhances to this technology were forecast by NewSat's business development manager David Atkinson, claiming that handsets will be able to then switch to satellite reception when out of range of a mobile network.

Ben Mansill travelled to MediaConnect's forum in the Hunter Valley as a guest of MediaConnect.