According to new a research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, WLAN will become the next prevalent connectivity technology in mass-market mobile handsets. The number of handsets with integrated WLAN is forecasted to grow from 27 million in 2007 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 71.5% to 400 million in 2012, corresponding to an attach rate of 25%. WLAN will primarily be used for high-speed Internet access in home or office networks and file transfer of for instance photos and media libraries. Mobile operators no longer consider WLAN a threat against data revenues, said André Malm, telecom analyst, Berg Insight. As flat-rate plans for data access become the norm, encouraging subscribers to use a local Internet connection actually makes much sense as a way to prevent data overload in mobile networks, Malm explained.

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