COMMENT
Mobile IP telephony won't sound the death knell for greedy mobile operators and their healthy profits. In fact, far from being a disruptive technology, it's firmly in the roadmap of most operators, says Anthony Plewes.
The intrusion of Microsoft and Skype into mobile VoIP will not have a negative impact on the mobile industry. On the whole, it is a symptom of the general march of the mobile industry to an all IP environment.
In February at the 3GSM Congress in Barcelona, Nokia launched a new handset, the 6136, which features integrated VoIP over wi-fi using Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology. UMA is seem by many as the cornerstone of fixed mobile convergence (FMC) and allows operators to offer live roaming between GSM and unlicensed wireless networks, particularly wi-fi and Bluetooth.
The fixed mobile convergence theme continued at the CeBIT show in Germany, where Deutsche Telekom launched T-One, a converged fixed-mobile service using Nokia N80 and E60 devices. These GSM phones will also operate in VoIP mode on DSL, W-CDMA and wi-fi networks. The devices, however, will only offer VoIP calls from T-Mobile hotspots - or via their users' home wi-fi networks - and will not traverse the pubic internet.
What characterises these and other fixed mobile convergence services is that although VoIP is used, it is not internet-based. They utilise SIP to set up calls irrespective of bearer channel, and let the user have a single number for the device.
Other mobile VoIP clients, which are not based on UMA, tend to be internet-based and offer very little in the way of quality assurance. Skype, originally designed for PC-to-PC communications piggybacking the internet from end to end, has a client for Microsoft smart phones and PDAs. Microsoft's own instant messaging suite, Office Communicator, now has VoIP capabilities in its mobile version. It might be fairer to call these internet telephony rather than VoIP.
However, just as Skype recognised the need to break out of the internet onto the fixed telephone network before it could make any money, the same is true in mobile. Recently the eBay subsidiary joined forces with mobile operator 3 to offer subscribers an opportunity to use its increasingly popular VoIP service over 3G networks. Other operators have been less than keen, citing complications about issues of security and service quality.
Completely independent of the Skype deal, 3 Italy launched a VoIP service for international calls this month. The International No Limit tariff aimed at its 3G subscriber base offers calls to 23 countries for five cents per hour. Current Analysis' analyst Bena Roberts approves. "By embracing VoIP, 3 Italy is showing the mobile world how to add value to its existing services, rather than to view it as a threat," he said in a report.
For pundits to argue that VoIP is a substantial threat to mobile operators' voice revenues is to underestimate the opportunities it offers. VoIP could allow mobile operators an opportunity to provide communications services over the fixed network. The BT Fusion service is more to do with Vodafone's capabilities than BT's. Any mobile operator could team with a broadband service provider and offer a service every bit as competitive.
The fixed-to-mobile substitution trend is already a boon to mobile operators: a well-marketed FMC service, targeting broadband home users, could see mobile operators' grip on the voice market tightened further.
Voice over IP is a disruptive technology; however, the industry's old guard has survived better than anyone would have predicted. The mobile industry has been on a path to an all-IP environment since 1999 when the first phase of 3G standards was released. Eventually, voice will be IP-based in 3G radio networks, and IMS will provide seamless interconnection between fixed and mobile realms. All telecoms networks, including mobile, will be IP-based, from end to end.
Currently, mobile operators are unlikely to be overly concerned about mobile VoIP services provided by those from outside their midst. While it will be possible for a third party to develop voice over wi-fi services, wi-fi hotspot coverage remains too patchy and the costs are too high to be a credible alternative to mobile calling outside the office and home.
The best application for mobile VoIP remains corporate FMC designed to use local wi-fi networks to access the local desk-phone. Companies will be able to extend this into their whole campus area to offer their own internal wireless networks just as companies have done using local cells for years.
And far from being left behind, mobile operators will play an important part in realising these applications and ensuring integration with their own mobile networks.
Anthony Plewes is a freelance journalist and director at Futurity Media
Comments
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1. Dean Bubley
Interesting article. Although I disagree on a number of issues.
Your contention that BT Fusion has more to do with Vodafone (its MVNO host) than BT is outright wrong. BT owns the UNCs (the core UMA network elements) and has spent a large amount of time on service development (eg its dedicated Home Hub) and fine-tuning. The cellular bit is "the easy bit" - the tricky stuff is around the wireline integration, in-home user experience, billing, customer suport etc. "Any mobile operator could team with a broadband service provider and offer a service every bit as competitive" - not a chance.
You also fail to mention the possible threat from VoIPo3G. As cellular data tariffs come down and bandwidths rise, this becomes increasingly attractive - especially among high-end users using smartphones.
Also, the timeline for end-to-end mobile VoIP (& switchover from circuit-switched voice) as part of 3G is likely to be between 2011 and 2015, although the CDMA world may be a bit quicker.