Fixed Mobile Convergence: Buzzword Or Business? - Reporters Notebook

Reporters Notebook

Blog

Reporters Notebook

« The Dynamism Of Early Adopters... | Main | Plantronics Freebie For Speede... »

Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (1)

Greg Scoblete

Fixed Mobile Convergence: Buzzword Or Business?
June 26, 2008

In-Stat says business. Maybe:

The benefits of seamless roaming between wireline and wireless networks is gaining steam, but many challenges remain before Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) is widely deployed, reports In-Stat (www.in-stat.com). Chief among these challenges is finding a compelling business case for most wireless carriers, who view FMC as a contra-revenue threat, the high-tech market research firm says.

"This is clearly the case in the US, with the exception of T-Mobile, which has primarily been focused on the consumer market," says David Lemelin, In-Stat analyst. "In-Stat believes communications industry leaders will not be dissuaded by lagging felt need for FMC solutions by businesses, and will aim to develop compelling solutions that, once experienced, will lead to viral adoption over the next several years."

We’ve been hearing about fixed mobile convergence for what seems like forever, but is it really going to take off among consumers? Intuitively, it sounds like a natural progression, but in practice, it’s taking an awfully long time to get off the ground.

Posted by Greg Scoblete on June 26, 2008 | Comments (1)

July 2, 2008
In response to: Fixed Mobile Convergence: Buzzword Or Business?
Fred Palacios commented:

During the period of the next ten years while FMC goes from being ten ways to do something to two or three, there will be the need for transitional technology to facilitate and/or increase the cost effectiveness of whatever your FMC looks like today while being adaptable to future requirements. Cellular Gateways is an excellent example of transitional technology. It is PBX agnostic and, once Verizon and Sprint get their act together, carrier agnostic. Until then, advantage at&t and T-Mobile, a fact that has not escaped them. For the end user, reductions in paid pooled minutes of 30% or more while enhancing emergency response/disaster recovery plans along with increased productivity and enhanced customer interaction. The saturated cellular industry gets an untapped source of new line activations and a reduction of churn rate (they now have equipment residing one level deeper in the client's telecom network). Finally, the phone system vendor gets a new sale to an existing client or to a new client. Fred Palacios Director of Sales ITS Telecom fredp@itstelecomusa.com