Telkom was today named as one of eight leading telecommunications operators to join the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA), with 240 million customers standing to benefit from the development of convergence services worldwide.
The FMCA has played an increasingly prominent role in shaping the convergence agenda around the world since its formation in July last year.
Part of this includes establishing support among handset vendors for emerging convergence technologies, as well as encouraging consistency across product and equipment standards.
Thami Msimango, Telkom`s Managing Executive for Network Infrastructure Provisioning, said the company`s membership was significant as it believed that the delivery of last mile seamless fixed and mobile converged access would continue to be one of the biggest technical challenges facing the ICT industry.
Over the past 10 months, the FMCA has been successful in securing vendor commitment to launch a range of Bluetooth UMA, WiFi UMA and WiFi SIP enabled handsets.
The FMCA is forecasting that more than 15 WiFi enabled mid-price convergence handsets will be commercially available from major handset vendors by mid-2006.
The FMCA will deliver the product requirements for the key convergence technologies by mid to late 2005. By producing the Bluetooth CTP, UMA and WiFi SIP product requirements by August 2005, they aim to reduce the time it takes for convergence products to hit the consumer and business markets across the world.
The FMCA is actively formalising relations with a number of standards development organisations (SDOs) for the FMCA UMA and WiFi SIP product requirements. These leading SDOs have the critical mass of vendor support to complement the FMCA`s operator membership and these relationships will further enhance industry alignment and approval for convergence products.
Additionally, the FMCA will quantify the global convergence opportunity by October 2005. This report will cover current and future global convergence opportunities, detailing the key segments and regional markets. It will forecast the total number of convergence subscribers and the market share that convergence will capture of the total telecoms sector.
The new other FMCA members are: Auna Group (Spain), Belgacom (Belgium), Cesky Telecom (The Czech Republic), Eircom (Ireland), PCCW (Hong Kong), TRUE (Thailand), Telecom New Zealand, as well as Telkom South Africa.
Ryan Jarvis, Chairman of the FMCA and Chief of Convergence Products at BT, said: "Convergence is an irreversible trend that will deliver seamless communications services and enhanced customer experiences. The rapid expansion of the FMCA demonstrates the importance that leading operators across the world are both placing on accelerating convergence and recognising the FMCA as the leader in creating the environment for convergence to succeed."
Existing FMCA members are: AT&T Corp (US), Bezeq (Israel), Brasil Telecom, BT (UK), Cegetel (France), Korea Telecom, KPN (Netherlands), NTT Com, Rogers Wireless Inc and Wwisscom.
Msimango said today`s customers want portability and mobility in addition to just fixed-line connectivity. "Fixed mobile convergence technology has the potential to satisfy these customer demands. In addition, this technology has the potential of opening new market opportunities through fillings gaps and complementing the fixed-line and mobile networks," said Msimango.
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