Telcos talk about best of both worlds

Our lives are littered with phones: desk phones, cellphones, cordless phones, smart phones, soft phones, public phones, satellite phones.

Most of us use some of the above, possibly even all. Unfortunately, such choice also brings complexity - different numbers, separate bills, multiple address books, a small suitcase of adapters and chargers.

What would you say to using just one?

Clearly, the mobile phone is already part of the way there. With its mobility a given, it's also introduced the concept to telecommunications of calling a person and not a place.

So is the death of the landline phone nigh? Not necessarily. Landline operators are fighting back. One of the strategies traditional carriers are pinning their hopes on is fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), whereby a mobile phone can connect to the fixed-line infrastructure - or any network, for that matter - when it's in a position to do so.

"I think we're going to see a change in the way people use communications services," says Pawel Grochowicz, Telecom's head of market strategy. "It's quite unprecedented."

On the face of it, the arguments for FMC appear compelling. To end-users, it offers the mobility and functionality of a mobile handset with the price and reliability advantages of a fixed-line service; to landline operators it offers a way to protect core revenue and regain a share of company (and household) phone spending - and quickly.

"There's a huge convenience benefit," says Grochowicz. "There is also a potential financial benefit to the extent that there are different cost structures between mobile and fixed-lines networks - in principle it can be passed on to the customer."

One of the key aspects to FMC is what he describes as "always best connections".

You can already use your mobile almost anywhere. But how happy are you making a mobile call from the confines of your office for 49 cents a minute when it could cost a lot less on a landline; or struggling with an intermittent 3G signal when you could be using your home DSL connection?

"One of the driving forces behind FMC is that the phone itself will automatically switch to the most appropriate network," Grochowicz says. "This will depend on the location of the user and their requirements, be it the cheapest, quickest, securest, or highest-quality service available."

So, if it has a choice, the phone will pick what's best for you - and, interestingly, the idea is that it will also seamlessly change networks as you move, say, from home to the car, to the office, to the little cafe around the corner.

Telecom is a big fan of this best-of-both-worlds concept. So much so, it's joined the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance, and will host a gathering of the group, whose members boast a billion customers between them, in Auckland from March 21 to 23. BT, AT&T, Bell South, Optus and China Telecom are alliance members; Vodafone New Zealand is not.

"Vodafone has a clear proposition in the market," says Grant Hopkins, the company's corporate and government general manager, who asks "why pay twice?", implying the landline is obsolete.

Indeed, a growing number of New Zealand businesses are adopting the mobile-only model; one in 10 homes has done the same. But as good as mobile is getting, it still has coverage, cost and quality issues.

FMC isn't a done deal by any means. There are serious technical challenges in seamlessly switching networks, not least because the industry worldwide can't seem to agree on technologies, frequencies, and the like, and in handset design and cost. The alliance exists to overcome these problems, working jointly on common standards.

"The group's vision is for people to use one phone with one number, address book and voicemail bank, taking advantage of cheap, high-speed connectivity in their fixed-line home or office setting, while enjoying mobility outside in the wide-area cellphone network," said BT's Steve Andrews, at the group's launch.

Despite the technical challenges, forms of FMC are already here. Last year, T-Mobile Germany launched T-Mobile@home. The name's a bit misleading as the service can be based at an office, up to five handsets are included, with calls up to 2km away being charged at €0.04 (about 7c) - and free between handsets. Beyond that, a mobile tariff applies.

In the UK, BT Fusion is operating a proprietary solution that combines BT's fixed-line and broadband solutions with BT Mobile. In Brazil, Nokia has joined with Telemar Oi to test its fixed-mobile solutions. Other trials are under way in Denmark, Italy, and Korea.

Telecom's Grochowicz wouldn't speculate on FMC's arrival here, simply saying it's "highly likely". In all probability, it's not a question of if we shall see it here, but when.