BARCELONA, Spain-The evolution toward convergence could make for some strange bedfellows.
The 3GSM World Congress was named for third-generation cellular services, but it was the alphabet soup of other technologies that garnered much of the attention at last week’s show. Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. each showcased handsets designed to operate seamlessly between cellular networks and Internet-based voice services, and Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer showcased a multi-modal device that integrates both wireless voice offerings with Bluetooth and Near Field Communications.
For consumers, the appeal of such offerings is obvious. Voice over Internet Protocol can reduce the cost of a wireless or fixed-line international call from more than a dollar per minute to just a few cents. Some carriers, though, see IP-based services as a threat to their very existence.
“Depending on who you talk to, some operators have already developed a strategy (for VoIP),” said Dave Grannan, Nokia’s general manager of e-mail enterprise solutions. “Some other operators see it as something that’s not consistent with their business model.”
Carriers in more mature markets may be slightly more inclined to accept such technologies. BT Group plc began shipping a Motorola VoIP handsets last year, that enables users to switch between cellular for wide-area coverage and VoIP where Wi-Fi coverage or Bluetooth connections allow.
Among U.S. operators, T-Mobile USA Inc. may be the first to embrace Internet-based voice services in an effort to capture market share. More conservative carriers have shown no interest in deploying VoIP, however.
Operators’ attitudes toward new technologies may not be purely financial, however. While BT’s offering allows for seamless movement between cellular and Internet-based networks, the addition of new technologies may make that seamlessness harder to achieve.
And while the addition of technologies like IMS may make things simpler in the long run, they may only complicate matters for carriers and consumers in the near future. Not only will operators have to determine whether to deploy each technology as it becomes available, they will have to figure out how to market and price them to stay competitive with Internet companies, satellite providers, cable TV services and others looking for the coveted “triple play.”
The key for players in the wireless industry may be to exploit the one advantage no one else has: the network. Carriers that use their networks to offer customized content and services at competitive prices will fare well in the coming clash of converged offerings, according to Cindy Christy, president of Lucent Technologies Inc.’s Network Solutions Group.
“The fact is, today it’s getting much more complicated in the industry,” said Christy. “We’ve got to take the abilities that we have in the industry-particularly in mobility-to win. We’ve got to create the business models to drive the revenues.”
