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| FMC great in 2008? |
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| Tuesday, 19 February 2008 | |
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Success possibly only for some, though, cautions Analysys…
Recent rune reading by ABI Research concludes that operators are now rolling out converged services on fixed and mobile networks, converting trials to commercial deployments, and that 2008 will see another spate of trials as femtocell technology begins to become available. According to the ‘Fixed Mobile Convergence’ report the move to fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) infrastructure is a natural evolution for the mobile network as broadband services, including voice over IP (VoIP) and other Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) services, begin to be deployed. Both Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) and SIP infrastructures are being deployed and dual-use Wi-Fi and cellular devices will be joined by femtocells in 2008. ABI Research says operators are fully aware of the increasing threat from mobile VoIP services and FMC will allow them to offer similar services and tariff packages. “As we move to the end of the decade, mobile networks will emerge with a flat all-IP architecture using 3GPP standards to deliver multimedia services and VoIP,” judges principal analyst Ian Cox. “In the meantime operators want to offer attractive calling plans to consumer and enterprise users. This will enable a single device to use both mobile and fixed broadband networks, improving business efficiency and enabling users to access directory information easily from their favourite devices.” For operators, says Cox, FMC provides data offload onto the broadband fixed network and improved indoor coverage from the mobile network. For users, a wider choice of mobile devices is coming along that will remove a barrier to service adoption. This will speed up the development of content and services, to the advantage of the whole industry. However another FMC rune reading, offered by Analysys at last week’s Mobile World Congress extravaganza in Analysys reasons that operators are putting too much emphasis on FMC technology and not really reflecting what the market actually wants. “FMC has a long and chequered history, and many are still unclear about what it is,” says Andrew Parkin-White, principal analyst at Analysys. “The approach taken by operators is motivated by a typically telco-centric view of the world, giving only limited consideration to what the market is really seeking. Most of the industry focus on FMC is concerned with device convergence - particularly with dual-mode handsets based on UMA” Parkin-White warns that other market opportunities for UMA could hinder the success of dual-mode services. Pure mobile services will become increasingly effective at delivering voice telephony in all environments, he feels. “We believe that only a few integrated incumbent operators will achieve significant success,” comments Parkin-White. “Network operators will need solutions for fixed and mobile access if they are to support a comprehensive combination of voice and data services. This approach does not imply that network operators must own fixed and mobile access solutions. Marketing convergence could have a more significant short-term impact on the telecoms industry than device and network convergence. Marketing convergence can provide customers with compelling reasons to subscribe to a range of fixed and mobile services. Reasons could include saving money, without necessarily facing the substantial challenges of device and network convergence.” John Williamson |
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