FMC on the March

FMC allows operators to use IP to combine fixed, mobile and broadband into unified end-user services, such as the seamless handover of voice calls between Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

Many are implementing the IMS architecture, which is based on standard, defined building blocks that communicate via open-standard protocols like SIP and DIAMETER, to support such applications. With a full IMS implementation, a service provider can deliver multimedia services to both fixed and mobile users using any IP-enabled device.

The first FMC application likely to be widely deployed is seamless roaming between Wi-Fi and cellular networks using a dual-mode device, which connects to Wi-Fi networks where available (home, office or hotspot) so that voice calls are converted transparently to VoIP and data sessions gain more bandwidth. The multimode phone or laptop intelligently chooses the network with the best capacity and QoS.

Click to Enlarge

The user conveniently gets one device, one number, one bill and one feature set to use whether at home, work or somewhere in-between, along with extra features like presence capability and buddy lists. Leveraging Wi-Fi also counters issues such as poor indoor cell coverage and slow download speeds outside of 3G markets, and using VoIP where possible means lower monthly bills and fewer cell overages.

When it comes to making a business case for seamless handoff, the consensus is that it adds competitive differentiation to the service set and paves the way for lucrative services.

Naturally, operators will approach fixed-mobile convergence differently depending on their market segment, business and network perspectives, says Paul Scarf, director of wireless OSS products at Sigma Systems. For instance, wireline operators can view seamless handoff as a way to compete with mobile operators — originating in-home calls over the fixed line via the mobile phone interface encourages people to keep their fixed line. It also can be a differentiating service against other fixed-line providers. And for those launching MVNO divisions, the revenue doesn’t escape at all, but rather increases the overall value proposition of the quad play.

Cablecos can use FMC to gain a new revenue source through VoIP and Wi-Fi, while “new market entrants such as wireless Internet service providers can target a previously untapped segment or one that has proved difficult for mobile operators,” Scarf adds.

Although FMC may force the per-minute price of the cellular minute to decline, richer blended services is expected to help with customer retention, attract new customers and increase ARPU. Cellular service providers “will see FMC as an opportunity to deliver new revenue-generating data and multimedia applications as part of their transition to third-generation wireless environments,” says Scarf. And many wireless operators have hotspot networks to leverage, and in the wake of mega-mergers, many have wireline sister companies too.

Regardless of segment, “the concept of cannibalization smacks of last-century, monopolistic, fixed-pie thinking,” says BridgePort Networks’ Ken Jones, director of marketing. “The reality of today’s communication sector is that competition is coming from several directions, not only internally from your direct competitors, but also externally from adjacent technologies.

“Providers are starting to understand that FMC opens the door to a number of innovative applications,” he adds. “That means that FMC will not be the race to the bottom that everyone feared. It will [instead] spur creative pricing/packaging/bundling that will lead to stable, or enhanced, revenues.”

However, the final pieces of the business case, pricing models and benchmarking for willingness to pay for services, still are being constructed. “As seen from Skype, the end consumers don’t actually know or care about the acronyms such as SIP,” says Ed Camarena, senior director of product marketing at Veraz Networks. “Either a compelling value proposition is provided, which could be price and service, or a service provider bundles it in [free].”

The next 18 months are supposed to be seminal for FMC. “The gates are starting to open and most experts expect several carriers to launch FMC solutions in 2006,” says BridgePort’s Jones. “A number of service providers are in advanced trials. Service providers will start to introduce SIP-based solutions in a targeted way in late 2006, early 2007.”

For now, British Telecom plc’s BT Fusion may be the highest-profile rollout, testing the business model for converged services; the telco has signed up thousands since the launch last summer. A multimode phone uses a BT broadband connection and an early version of the unlicensed mobile access (UMA) convergence standard, so calls from home are originated using the customer’s broadband service and a Bluetooth base station, then can roam to GSM and Wi-Fi networks.

Meanwhile, Israeli mobile operator MiRS Communications Ltd. plans to offer VoIP clients and dual-mode devices to its 370,000 GSM/iDen subscribers this year, while advancing its network to IMS; and European operator O2 plc plans to complement its 3G network with Wi-Fi and a new class of dual-mode PDAs that work with both.

Closer to home, Cingular Wireless is planning an eventual rollout of integrated services across cellular, fixed-line and WLAN networks, using UMA.

Meanwhile, some domestic operators are looking beyond Wi-Fi-to-cell handoff services. Sprint Nextel Corp. has said it plans to provide an integrated communications service package to its fixed and mobile customers, and those of its cable company customers, starting late this year.

Verizon Business is testing the market for FMC-like services with a suite of wireless and wireline solutions that combine the Verizon Wireless footprint with the Verizon Business IP network (enhanced by recent acquisition MCI) for enterprise mobility and business continuity applications.

And BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Inc. have signed IMS-related deals with Lucent Technologies Inc. BellSouth has said it plans to roll out VoIP soon with an eye to converged services like programming a DVR from one’s mobile phone.

Perhaps most tellingly, BT, Korea Telecom, NTT, Verizon and Vodafone will conduct a three-continent real network trial of the MultiService Forum’s IMS-compatible Release 3 architecture, allowing carriers and vendors to test the interoperability of IMS-based infrastructure components and providing a test bed for the hardware, processes and services needed for FMC, including handoffs, QoS issues and interoperability with 3GPP release 4.

“In principle, IMS is working today,” says Siemens’ Harald Braun, president of the communications networks division, which is in lab trials for FMC with major RBOCs. “There’s reality kicking in — we have the products, we know they work, so the real question is simply the business model.”

Manuel Vexler, vice president of the IMS Forum and CTO at CopperCom Inc., notes that while the IMS standards still are being developed, the framework is gaining mindshare across all types of service providers. “At its core, IMS reconciles the evolution of multimedia consumer devices with network architectures providing differentiated classes of services,” Vexler says. “There are multiple standards organizations involved in the development of IMS; however, the consensus on the opex and capex savings is already there.”

For FMC in general and cellular-Wi-Fi handoff in particular, the biggest initial constraint is the price of dual-mode handsets and limited model options. However, every major manufacturer has a dual-mode device planned, and this year’s 3GSM conference saw a parade of prototype and production handsets just waiting for carrier orders. Prices should drop as volumes ramp.

There’s also the problem of transitioning the back office to IMS, an expensive and arduous process. For instance, when it comes to OSS and billing, operators must provide SLAs for various offers and will have to design their access and transport networks to meet the demand and capacity requirements.

On the network side, implementing full IMS is a complex endeavor that could take years. However, throngs of vendors such as Alcatel, Cisco Systems Inc., GenBand, Netcentrex S.A., Reef Point Systems Inc. and Sonus Networks Inc. are embracing IMS wholeheartedly, with a flurry of recent announcements for IMS-compatible platforms and network elements.

To spur the rollout of FMC services, many, such as Telcordia Technologies Inc. and Tekelec, offer migration solutions that enable FMC today without requiring the full IMS deployment.

Payam Maveddat, vice president of wireless switching at Tekelec, says the challenges the operators are facing with IMS have to do with the migration strategy. Operators want the transition to be seamless, while taking advantage of the investments they have made in existing infrastructure. “For instance, mobile carriers are very keen to maintain their HLRs in their network, and have limited interest in moving to HSS directly,” says Maveddat. “Many carriers have IN-based prepaid systems that they want to use in both domains.”

SIP over IMS has gotten a lot of attention lately as a way to enable FMC, but before SIP there was UMA. Now there is an ongoing battle between the two. Compatible with GSM cell service only, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology enables cellular-to-Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/WiMAX voice call handoffs by extending the cellular circuit-switched signaling protocol into the Internet.

Spearheaded by Kineto Wireless, UMA can provide access to GSM and GPRS mobile services via unlicensed spectrum technologies. It takes the SS7 signaling protocol (GSM’s MAP), and encapsulates and tunnels the messages to/from a UMA end device. In other words, it extends the circuit-based signaling protocol into the Internet. From an architectural view, the Internet ends up looking like a base station to the GSM network.

For pure-play mobile operators, UMA is a shield against cannibalization. UMA calls remain on the mobile operator’s network instead of being converted to VoIP, as is the case with a SIP/IMS architecture.

For the operator, UMA is cost effective and doesn’t require massive network overhauls to function, making it a good bet for quick FMC rollouts.

Originally UMA did not go beyond enabling 2G and 2.5G voice call handoffs. Now, SIP (and optionally IMS) can be deployed on top of UMA (specified in 3GPP release 6 under the name Generic Access Network). A recent demonstration showed that Infineon’s IMS client for mobile phones, operating with Kineto’s UMA client on a GSM/GPRS/EDGE-Wi-Fi handset platform, provided session continuity of IMS-based presence and push-to-talk applications when the handset platform passed between a live GPRS network and Wi-Fi connection.