Fixed Mobile Convergence and Fixed Mobile Substitution
With the expansion of Voice over IP telephony into mainstream consumer markets driven by cable companies, continued growth of PC softphones, deployment of combination cellular/Wi-Fi services with dual mode handsets - utilising either UMA and SIP technologies, and the increasing ability of cellular data networks based on HSPA+ and EVDO rev A and in the future LTE to directly carry IP voice, the technologies behind Fixed Mobile Convergence have matured and become market ready, with both enterprise centric and consumer markets in deployment.
Meanwhile, Fixed Mobile Substitution has fought back with a landmark $500m contract placed by AT&T with IP.Access for 7 million femtocells announced on April 24, 2008. FMC and FMS approaches affect incumbent and challenger service providers, handset manufacturers, PBX and hosted PBX suppliers, softswitch and IMS equipment suppliers, access point and home gateway vendors and a broad range of software, infrastructure and application startups.
Ideas and Plans' experience, gained through our past roles in senior management and on the board of BridgePort Networks, and our involvement with femtocell and WiMax suppliers can help guide you through the maze of FMC and FMS.
Sample Services
- Advice on market timing and competitive positioning
- Partner strategy and business development
- Business model development
- FMC at the applications layer
- IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Next Generation Networks (NGN) considerations
- Product Strategy for WiMax and Femtocell approaches
- Strategy and Business Planning for Enterprise FMC MVNO concept
- Operator-independent strategies
- Survey of dual mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets and software clients