DECT Forum Eyes U.S. Growth
By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 6/4/2007
NEW YORK — What does the future hold for DECT technology in the United States? TWICE asked Erich Kamperschroer, DECT Forum chairman, about the current and future prospects for the technology.
TWICE: How many DECT phones do you expect to be sold in the U.S. market in 2007?
Erich Kamperschroer: The market forecast of sold DECT 6.0 devices for 2006 was 634,000 but in September 2006 the figures reached 1 million even though the DECT 6.0 technology was launched only in January 2006 at the CES. Therefore we expect a remarkable increase in market share of DECT 6.0 in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
TWICE: As more people adopt DECT phones, do you lose the "interference free" advantage?
EK: Definitely no. The goal of interference free communication in the U.S. will not be reached until all 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz phones are substituted by DECT 6.0 telephones. There is a phone market in the U.S. of 60 million devices per year. In 2006 there were 1 million DECT 6.0 devices sold in the U.S. So I think there is still a lot to do for DECT 6.0 in the next years.
TWICE: Aside from the interference issue, what are the benefits of DECT vs. 5.8GHz or 2.4GHz phones?
EK: Compared to its competitors, DECT 6.0 is a standardized technology. The main benefits of DECT 6.0 are brilliant quality of voice and sound, multimedia-based value added services and future IP support.
TWICE: Will there be a DECT 6.1 or 7? Is more work being done on the technology?
EK: The DECT Forum is constantly driving advancements of the DECT 6.0 technology. Furthermore the successor for VoIP- and IP-based applications is CAT-iq. The CAT-iq technology was launched in December 2006 and is the global technology for broadband (IP-based) home connectivity. In the U.S., CAT-iq will be launched in summer 2008.
For more on CAT-iq and the future of DECT, please see "DECT Spec Evolves" at www.TWICE.com.
