Industry must collaborate to aid consumer FMC adoption

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Fixed mobile convergence (FMC) may be an attractive proposition to businesses, because of the benefits on offer, but all industry players must be willing to co-operate more in order to ensure that attraction translates to consumers, claims new research from Informa Telecoms and Media

By 2012, there will be some 170 million FMC subscribers - generating $33.4 billion in revenue - with nine per cent of the corporate world, versus just under five per cent of consumers, helping to reach this figure.

While FMC is likely to reduce overheads for operators and provide useful services for businesses such as unified messaging, IP PBX integration, the benefits for consumers, such as a single bill and discounts, are less appealing, according to report author and senior Informa analyst Paul Merry.

"As a consequence, consumer FMC faces a substantial challenge in capturing the consumer imagination", he said.

"Developing FMC to its full potential will be a sizeable challenge requiring financial and intellectual investment as well as a discarding of vested interests. Convergence is the purest form of standardisation and requires that all parties submit to the common aim."

The market is moving towards a number of challenges in the months and years ahead, adds the report, which advises players to work through them by concentrating on core skills, investing in the long term future of the telecommunications environment and ensuring clarity of focus.

Those who haven't yet woken up to the need for co-operation are likely to do so forcibly soon.

The report concludes: "Whether the goal of FMC is attainable remains to be seen but the level of impetus behind it means any laggards who wish to resist may find themselves overcome in the tide of change."

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