Dual mode handsets are no longer an aspiration, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance which announced Monday that it has certified nearly 100 wifi phones since 2004, with more to come this year.

According to the Alliance, the days when the perception was “wifi versus cellular” are over with major operators, including UK incumbent BT, “aggressively” pushing the technology.

Frank Hanzlick, Wi-Fi Alliance managing director told the Show Daily: “We’re a lot further along than we were a year ago. now we really are looking at broadband everywhere because consumers want it and it is becoming available. Companies like BT with its Fusion product and T-Mobile’s At Home are really setting the stage across the globe. Certified handsets give carriers confidence about adding converged devices to their networks.”

Asked how important it was that wifi made it onto mobiles Hanzlick said: “It is probably the most significant thing to have happened to the technology since Intel began putting it into its chips. I’m confident it will broaden what people do with wifi. It will be an opportunity to redefine people’s expectations of the technology.”

On 802.11n Hanzlick said the Alliance is “progressing nicely” with the first phase of certification due by June. “We’re confident about that” he said “and [that] the final standard will be ready by 2008”.