Nascent IMS Market Could Reach $14 Billion in US by 2011

In-Stat: Still in the early stages of development, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) will take at least another year to get going, but has enormous potential. In the most optimistic of three forecast scenarios, wireless carrier revenues from IMS applications in the US could be as high as $14 billion by 2011, . IMS will allow users to seamlessly communicate across multiple networks—wireless, WiFi, broadband, cable—using several different end-user interface devices. The report and forecasts focus specifically on cellular carriers and applications that are most appropriate for the customers of wireless networks. IMS was originally developed for 3G carriers. This report quantifies the possible effects of IMS deployment by cellular companies. Each of the three five-year forecast scenarios in the report includes detailed methodology and assumptions to use as milestones to chart the progress of IMS deployments in the future.

• Introduction and growth of IMS applications and services is dependent on several factors including selection and implementation of infrastructure, trial and adoption of consumer-oriented applications and services, and handset availability.

• It is likely that the significant growth in IMS applications and services being offered by wireless will begin to appear well into 2007.

• Despite that relatively late start, there could eventually be as many as 72 million IMS users in the US by 2011.

Wireless IMS Applications: Still More Work to Do

Publ 20060620