Some manufacturers, including Nokia and Samsung, have already introduced dual-mode Wi-Fi/GSM phones, offering potential savings on your monthly mobile-phone bill. But beyond this, it is seamless service integration, single billing and high-speed data throughput that fixed-mobile telecom convergence can offer.

"UMA [unlicensed mobile access] handsets are a good step towards convergence, because we have GSM everywhere in the world; on the other hand Wi-Fi is growing every day," said Laurent Perche, mobile-solutions leader of Alcatel (Thailand), pointing out the dual-mode Wi-Fi/GSM handsets which employ UMA technology.

"I believe convergence is the real business, because it is what everyone wants," he

said.

There are already five Wi-Fi-GSM handsets available on the Thai market, including Nokia N80 and O2 Mini, although no operator has yet launched the fixed-mobile convergence service that would allow users to enjoy the seamless benefits of their dual-mode handsets

here.

Elsewhere in the world, BT Group has been a pioneer in this field with its introduction of the BT Fusion service last year. The firm said it had 13,000 subscribers as of early this year and was gaining 2,000 new ones every week.

Other major network operators in Europe and the US, including Orange, Neuf Tele-com, Cegetel and T-Mobile, have been trailing services. Orange, for instance, has unveiled a package with very aggressive pricing: for ¤20-¤25 (Bt950-Bt1,200) a month consumers can make unlimited GSM/Wi-Fi calls within France and to several other European countries, watch 30-40 IPTV (Internet protocol television) channels free and enjoy Internet broadband access at 20Mbps.

Will Thai consumers be offered such an attractive package some day? Perche has no doubt about it.

"We'll reach this. It's just a matter of time. It may take six months, one year, two years," he said.

According to Perche the Thai telecoms market is coming to a "tipping point" with convergence services about to take off.

"Thailand is actually reach-ing the point. Two years ago it would have been stupid to think about it, because we had only 5,000 broadband subscribers. Now it [has reached] the tipping point, because regulation is coming, competition has come to the point where further price competition is no longer valid, and we are starting to have critical mass" in each of the sectors, including broad-band Internet, and the number of mobile-phone users.

VoIP (voice-over Internet protocol) and IPTV services are also kicking off in Thailand.

Perche said True Corp was in the best position to utilise fixed-mobile convergence, thanks to its diverse range of products, including fixed-line, broadband, mobile-phone and cable-TV-to-digital content businesses.

In fact, the firm already offers some convergence service packages. True could offer the UMA service now if it wanted to, Perche said.

Besides operators' willingness, the regulatory environ-ment plays a crucial role in the development of fixed-mobile convergence.

"If tomorrow regulators said they would give out the WiMAX licence on a 2.5GHz frequency, but only for mobile services, that would shut down the chance for fixed-mobile convergence. We need to have very open regulations," Perche said.

On the technology side, WiMAX (a wireless technology which provides broadband connections over a longer distance than Wi-Fi) is a push that could speed up convergence once Thai telecom regulators approve its commercial deployment.

"For instance, WiMAX can give Dtac, which is a pure player [operating only in the cellular business] the chance to compete in broadband and on fixed lines such as in VoIP, or TT&T [a fixed-line operator] the chance to go mobile," Perche said.

A spokesperson for Alcatel said convergence would help operators avoid duplicate

investments and reduce subscription cancellations, or "churning".

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation