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Consumers key to convergence
Consumers key to convergence
Convergence – a buzzword in the telecom industry – has long been talked about. The path to achieving it from the here and now was discussed by industry leaders, including Ericsson, at CTIA Wireless 2009.
At a conference panel session, the consensus between US network carriers and global vendor representatives was clear; convergence is already happening and a world of true seamless integration over any device is around the corner.
The session began by outlining two focal points of convergence for carriers. First, by bundling wireline and wireless services, price breaks attract more consumers, which leads to reduced churn and consequently increased ARPU.
“Convergence is about integrated access to data regardless of device,” said Roger Gurnani, Senior Vice President, Product Development, Verizon Wireless.
Scott McElroy, Vice President, Technology Realization, AT&T adds: “Essentially, convergence is unfettered access to people or applications and will allow for new types of services which cannot be provided today.”
But it also means more than turning services and applications that are wireline today into wireless tomorrow. “We look at it in terms of empowering the consumers,” says Mathew Oommen, Vice President, Device and Technology Development, Sprint. “And greater speed is a critical component on the path to a converged world.” he adds.
In order to support their vision, vendors are working towards network architecture to achieve convergence. Carriers are keen to know their networks are secure, private and will not be compromised in a converged world with the additional need for interoperability.
Ericsson CTO Håkan Eriksson sees this as a challenge that can successfully be overcome. “Telecom is one of the world’s most standardized industries, especially the mobile world,” he says. “IMS, for example, is a control system into all-IP, designed for interoperability and not differentiation.”
Håkan Eriksson continues that interoperability is a strength and selling proposition for carriers. He uses the example of MMS uptake in the US after the industry learned lessons from a fragmented approach, which resulted in slow initial uptake of SMS.
“What is pushing convergence is essentially consumer behavior,” Eriksson adds. “The more users experience the benefits of efficiency, the more they want. Mobile broadband behavior will drive convergence in the next twelve months.”
What is happening now is the start of things to come; convergence is a long-term vision. “The true aspects of convergence evolution will take several years to realize,“ says McElroy. “But consumer habits are driving the need for more velocity.”
“It’s all about the need for built-in efficiency,” says Oommen. “Faster speeds will mean more uptime which enables consumers to experience more downtime for themselves.”
