Fresh from a flurry of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) activity (click) the hyperactive Free operation of French group Iliad has launched an ambitious fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) service that enables its 2mn triple play customers to travel anywhere in the world with their fixed line telephone numbers. Courtesy of an upgrade to the operator’s Thomson Cirpack SoftSwitch, the new seamless wireless VoIP service offers roaming of users’ fixed line service to whichever Wi-Fi hotspot they are connected to, even when using GSM phones managed by another operator. Free subscribers can now literally take their fixed line with them and choose whether incoming calls should be redirected to their dual mode Wi-Fi/GSM phones. Outbound calls placed via Wi-Fi are tariffed at the same pricing scheme as those placed from home.

“Every equipment manufacturer is talking about IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), but very few are actually showing how to use these technologies to offer innovative services,” judges Jacques Dunogué, senior executive vice president of Thomson’s Systems Division. “Free is now launching one of the largest Fixed-Mobile Convergence service in Europe.”

Also heading of down the FMC trail is Ukraine’s Golden Telecom which has contracted Alcatel to supply an Unlicensed Mobile Access/Generic Access Network (UMA/GAN) system that will particularly target corporate users.

"Our intention is to facilitate the access to our services with a single subscription to mobile, fixed and data services, a single access through any device, a selection of access media, personalised services and many other innovative functionalities," comments general director of Golden Telecom Ukraine Andrii Droniuk.

The new FMC offering – apparently the first of its type in Ukraine - is expected to be in commercial operation by the end of 2006.
John Williamson