Following months of behind-the-scenes collaboration, a handful of telecommunications operators announced the formation of the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance in an attempt to accelerate the development of fixed-mobile convergence products and services. The founding members of the alliance include Brasil Telecom, British Telecom, Korea Telecom, NTT Com, Rogers Wireless Inc. and Swisscom, with a reported 15 additional telecommunications operators expressing interest in joining the alliance.
The FMCA said one of its key objectives will be to present a common message to the telecommunications equipment vendor community regarding the development of standards-based terminal and infrastructure equipment. The alliance noted one such example of the products it hopes to promote is BT’s recently announced Bluephone initiative, which allows customers to transition between in-home wired and wireless wide area networks using Bluetooth technology.
Members of the alliance will rotate chairmanships every 12 months, with BT taking the initial leadership role.
“The creation of the alliance demonstrates operators’ willingness to share information and work together on behalf of all our customers to ensure that nothing stands in the way of progress,” said Ryan Jarvis, chairman of the FMCA and chief of mobile products and partnerships at BT. “The initial group of leading telcos is totally committed to delivering convergence, and the FMCA is encouraged by the applications from other telecom operators to join us.”
