Moving forward
The finance sector has traditionally blazed a trail when it comes to using telecoms to link offices around the world and clinch deals with customers. Ironically, at a time when everyone else is talking about fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) though, banks and insurers are dragging their heels, citing security and network coverage concerns as reasons for the slow adoption.
20 June 2007
Publication
In an attempt at defining the term fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), Capgemini head of telecoms, media and entertainment strategy Priya Mehra listed four possible approaches in Financial Sector Technology.
“But there are arguments within the telecoms industry as to exactly what FMC itself means and how far companies need to go before they can claim to be truly ‘converged’. FST asked independent analysts Capgemini to define the term, and Priya Mehra, head of telecoms, media and entertainment strategy, listed four possible approaches:
- A basic bundle of fixed to mobile services using separate phones
- Device-level convergence using a single handset but beware as calls
might drop when moving from mobile to fixed networks
- Service convergence uses a single operator and handset that reliably
switches networks when a mobile user gets close enough to a fixed line node within
the office or home – BT Fusion is an example of this approach
- Network convergence is a sophisticated approach based on common Internet Protocol (IP) phone networks, which is predicated on operators building out their Next Generation Networks – BT, for example, has its 21st Century Network (21CN) project.
Typically, mobile users in the financial sector can get back to their office systems at the moment using WiFi nodes located in ‘hotspots’ around the country or via Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) located within the office or company campus. “The biggest problem with FMC right now though is that you have to upgrade to a dual-mode handset that has to be WiFi enabled,” says Mehra. “Over the next two years you’ll see many more WiFi cellular handsets in the market and this will result in a better proposition for FMC.”
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