3GSM preview: On with the show
The concept of being able to have one handset that roams seamlessly from a mobile network to a fixed line network depending on whether it's being used in or out of an office or home is an attractive one. Although it seems such a natural evolution, the industry and consumers alike have been slow to move towards this one-stop-shop approach. Only recently, with the emergence of products such as BT's Fusion, has the idea begun to achieve mainstream acceptance. Pricing remains a serious hurdle with consumers unsure as to what they should be paying for such flexibility. Further confusion is added--as in the case of BT's Fusion product--when the fixed-line calls are being made over an IP-based broadband network which should be even cheaper than the traditional telephony network. Consumer group Which? claimed that Fusion cost too much, given that its fixed-line calls are made over a broadband connection. Ovum's Lewis claims that the tensions at work around convergence boil down to the stand-off between the players in each camp. "A lot of this will be based around either retaining the minutes on the mobile network or dragging the minutes back onto the fixed network. If you're an IT manager, then pulling minutes back onto the fixed network through your own PBX will have enormous cost savings." But according to Lewis, mobile operators aren't going to let the fixed providers have it all their own way and will try to encourage customers to make all their calls over the mobile network. "In order to do that they are going to have to offer a mobile PBX platform, a mobile VPN , and some decent cost savings to encourage customers to do it," he explains. | |||||||||||||
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