Analysis from Analysys in England says that fixed/mobile convergence (F/MC) of VoIP (Voice over IP) and cellular voice will save European corporate customers 30 percent on voice communications. F/MC technology (often called dual-mode) enables end-users to seamlessly switch from unlicensed spectrum, such as Wi-Fi, to licensed cellular/3G connections and back again on voice and data calls.

While this technology should hurt mobile operators as corporate customers bypass them, carriers could pony up to sell cellular services with femtocells, which improve indoor coverage—cellular service is often poor in many commercial buildings—and therefore stem the tide of demand for dual-mode phones with Wi-Fi built in.

Analysys believes dual-mode phones will account for 14 percent of handsets sold to enterprises by 2012.

Single-chip femtocells were designed to counter the rush towards UMA (a type of F/MC technology for GSM networks) and Voice over Wi-Fi technology in the marketplace, as it allows people to use traditional cell phones rather than specially designed Wi-Fi/cellular handsets.

The recent advent of UMA-enabled femtocells by Kineto and picoChip seems to promise the best of both worlds by making it easier for operators to provide in-building service - by supporting both VoIP and cellular service. With them, the companies assert operators will have a standardized, cost effective and scalable core network interface to fully realize the coverage, capacity and cost benefits of 2G and 3G in-building cellular access points.