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UMA delivers the first step of FMC by enabling seamless handovers of VoIP calls to and from the cellular networks. But Indian market may skip UMA and deploy full fledged IMS instead, forecasts Akshay Agarwal, Ecosystem Partner Manager - India & Korea, Texas Instruments, India.
“In India, most of the operators offer both Fixed Line and Wireless services and might look to deploy unified services to users” adds Akshay
Akshay Agarwal in an intercatiion with Idhries Ahmad of CIOL also gives an in-depth understanding of the processes involved in FMC deployments and shares the trends in the FMC space in worldwide
How does TI look at the Fixed Mobile Convergence and what are the benefits how does  it appeal the end users?.
FMC is also an opportunity for landline operators to diversify and grab cellular customers. For operators operating on both landline/broadband and wireless, they can leverage existing subscribers for either of the two services and get them subscribed to other service.
TI’s OMAP processors, OMAP-Vox platform and WiLink mobile WLAN solutions help OEMs/ODMs and cellular service providers worldwide to realize IMS devices (both multimedia rich and voice-only applications) across various segments with shorter time to market and greater power efficiency. TI’s NaviLink platform offers a single-chip GPS solution to cater to both location- and presence-based social networking groups.
Smooth cooperation between the Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) and the Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN) is one of the issues in telecommunications. The common use of these networks and above all, is also encompassed in FMC.
From the user‘s point of view, a wide range of uniform services across fixed and mobile networks is very important. The combination of an innovative network spanning FMC services with an attractive rating gives new impulses to the telecommunication market. The network operators and service providers use the new FMC services to differentiate themselves even more from the competitors with the new FMC services and to increase their market share.
How has FMC adoption grown through out the world. Can you share with us the deployments that have happened across world. And how do you see the Indian market?
The FMC market worldwide is seeing staggered deployment of services. To begin with, UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) was been the first step of FMC, followed by SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and IMS (IP Multimedia System).
UMA delivers the first step of FMC by enabling seamless handovers of VoIP calls to and from the cellular networks. Phones with UMA support began shipping in 2006 and are expected to continue through the latter part of this decade.
While network operators prepare to roll out IMS, pre-IMS deployments with SIP have already started to take place with VoIP applications on mobile phones. IMS roll out is expected in late 2007/early 2008, with widespread deployments worldwide in 2009. IMS will offer a breadth of applications including presence/social networking, video sharing, PTT (Push to Talk) and others. Some of the applications like PTT and IM have been supported both by network and devices; but are today over legacy network and still mainly over wireless. FMC deployment will see large scale adoption of these applications.
The India market may skip UMA and deploy full fledged IMS insead. In India, most of the operators offer both Fixed Line and Wireless services and might look to deploy unified services to users. Full fledged adoption of FMC also depends on data bandwidth the user receives through cellular network. 3G is also expected to be a driving factor for mass adoption of FMC applications.
What do you see the factors that are driving/hampering FMC deployments (Globally and India)
We all know that indoor coverage with cellular is a reality due to today’s higher frequency cellular and wireless communications, which often require more expensive pico base stations to obtain pervasive coverage in large indoor corporate settings. For an enterprise where cellular service can account for 25 to 30 percent of total IT spending, reuse of existing, lower-cost, secure WLAN assets can not only reduce costs but can ensure employees are reachable even when they’re away from their desks.
For consumers, FMC brings a single set of services offered across any device – landline or wireless. This will bring better coverage, simplified billing, more efficient and cost-effective communications and the promise of new and seamless service offerings that simplify complex usage scenarios.
Given that consumers’ worst cellular coverage is typically at home, the lack of in-building penetration is a common source of consumer dissatisfaction, which often influences consumers’ choice of service provider. Leveraging home broadband connections to provide mobile VoIP will eliminate indoor coverage gaps.
FMC has the intelligence to use a number of schemes (network or terminal-based) to determine the best voice call or data quality at a given location. It also provides the seamless mobility between networks (Wi-Fi or cellular) to route the call to the best quality or least-cost network, depending on consumer preference.
And how about challenges
There are challenges (not factors) in deployment which are hampering FMC deployment. As mentioned earlier, FMC deployment in most parts of the world has been staggered and not full blown to IMS directly. UMA and SIP-based deployments are already happening and there are operators in Western Europe, USA are doing field trails before they roll out commercially. Countries like Korea are doing trials of Wireless Broadband (Wibro) which will enable convergence. In India too, WiMax deployment will help to speed up FMC deployment.
Deployment of UMA, SIP and IMS is not just dependent on mobile device but also involves modification on the network, interoperability of services both on the network and device sides, availability of affordable dual mode devices. The unique interoperability and deployments may take a while, but the market is definitely maturing to meet these requirements to provide users with an enriched FMC experience.
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