Fixed-mobile convergence

Many years back, the talk about Voice over Internet Protocol or what’s popularly known today as VoIP sent shivers down the spines of most telecom operators as they imagined their abundant earnings being eroded by this emerging technology. VoIP technology enables a consumer to place voice calls, whether domestic or international, utilizing the Internet rather than an operator’s network. In fact, if you have a DSL connection today, simply download Skype into your computer and you can speak to any party in the world with the clarity of a landline practically for free! Just recently, the NTC ruled VoIP as a VAS, as such opening up the service to any company which wants to offer it. Soon after, our local telecom operators slashed their IDD rates from $0.40 to $0.10 a minute.

Our telecom operators are a savvy bunch so I believe they realized the eventual commercial availability of VoIP and such types of services eating into their traditional revenues. What ensued next was a tedious task for the operators to transform themselves into fixed-mobile operators (FMOs). In the early stages of this transformation, we saw the conversion of analog networks and devices to digital and lately the convergence of voice, data and video into one neat bundle. For us consumers, this transformation even became more apparent when a certain telephone operator started offering SMS to its landline customers or when a cable company began offering traditional voice and Internet service to the retail customer. The clear underlying technology driving this convergence is the use of IP networks as the common transport.

Our operators have been engaging the services of top network manufacturers to provide solutions that will offer a smooth transition to this next-generation network. Operators will then be enabled to offer new services which will give us subscribers the facility to enjoy the same rich experience independent of access, whether a user is on WLAN, Wi-Fi, GSM or DSL. This may all sound so complex for the layperson, but it really becomes all so clear when the application or benefit to everyday life is realized. I just read recently a study made by consultancy company RelevantC of the UK that 44 percent of cellular minutes are now being generated indoors where fixed-line network or landlines are available. As this trend continues where users are unknowingly training themselves to whip out their mobile phones to make calls no matter their location, I foresee the number of voice minutes overwhelmingly migrating to cellular, thus depriving the fixed-line operator of its revenues. This most especially holds true in more cosmopolitan areas where the convergence of the two is now budding to be both a business and technology requirement from service providers. FMOs shall then provide technologies which will bring VoIP and cellular together, integrating fixed-line and wireless technologies and services, while enabling the seamless handoff of IP calls across both fixed-line (Wi-Fi) and wireless (GSM) networks with a single user identity across both networks. This retraining of the end-users’ habit, of course, is like I mentioned limited to the business user in cosmopolitan cities today, but I see this changing as airtime cost decreases, advanced handsets become cheaper, new applications and services are better appreciated by a broader population, and common formats are supported or become interoperable.

Our wireless space is again entering a new chapter in its evolution. Besides the integrated networks I earlier spoke about, which provides you with always-on, high speed digital access, all this will be realized via a single mobile device where IP-based multimedia services will provide voice services, video sharing, and a unified communications experience using both fixed-line and wireless packet access networks. Well, that can make a different article altogether.

* * *

Patrick R. Garcia is the managing director of Bidshot Wireless Services. For comments or suggestions, e-mail [email protected].