Mobile Industry Review » FMC

Carriers still running scared of FMC

Julia — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:14:08 +0000

Aside from BT’s ongoing Fusion efforts, carriers are still sceptical about fixed-mobile convergence, according to analyst In-Stat, and still fear the technology could cannibalise their existing revenues.

In spite of all that, it appears that FMC really is seeing some take-up – In Stat says 20 percent of businesses with wi-fi use it for voice traffic and the analysts reckon that cleverer operators will dream up new applications that will see viral adoption.

The fundamental problem with FMC adoption is that it seems carriers just can’t think up the best way to sell it. Is it business or consumer? Is it just a cost-cutting exercise and, if so, how does it fit in with home zone pricing-type strategies? And if it’s about applications rather than pricing, isn’t it time we see some of those applications actually being offered to customers and being used? I think carriers need to spend a long time back at the drawing board before we’ll see FMC really seeing any substantial take up.

BT to relaunch Fusion with own-brand HTC?

Julia — Wed, 07 May 2008 03:32:58 +0000

Interesting news out of BT: according to a report in The Telegraph BT is set to debut an own-brand smartphone from HTC today.

The Telegraph reckons it will run “off BT’s Home Hubs in residential settings, and switch across to the Vodafone mobile network when out and about”Interesting news out of BT: according to a report in The Telegraph BT is set to debut an own-brand smartphone from HTC today.

The Telegraph reckons it will run “off BT’s Home Hubs in residential settings, and switch across to the Vodafone mobile network when out and about”

Having divested itself of its mobile arm some years ago and stumbled somewhat with its last mobile offering, the dual-mode VoIP/cellular service BT Fusion, it could well be a bit of an uphill struggle for the incumbent to sell mobile services to consumers again. If the Telegraph is right, then this just looks Fusion by another name: without a raft of must-have devices, better pricing or at least some new services, I’m not really sure how BT thinks Fusion will fly this time around.

C&W inks five-year union with Orange over FMC

Julia — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:00:34 +0000

More news on the convergence front – Cable and Wireless has signed a deal with Orange to provide national roaming services to its fixed mobile convergence (FMC) customers. The five year deal will let customers use Orange’s mobile network when they’re outside the office and then switch back to using IP over a Cable and Wireless network once they’re inside their workplace.

Orange has its own FMC service, called Unik, but the pair shouldn’t clash as C&W will be targeting multinationals rather than consumers with its offering. I’ll be watching this one closely – this will pit C&W against BT in FMC services. BT’s own service, Fusion, is in for a bit of a refit at the moment, and should be due out in a more data-centric incarnation some time soon.