Fixed Mobile Convergence – or not?
Fixed Mobile Convergence is central for enterprises yet all too many solutions that promise to enable it fall far short of the mark. Why? To find out – and to discover how you can deliver true FMC that really meets the needs of your B2B customers, read on…and download our briefing paper to explore true FMC that really satisfies demand.
You might think that the issue of Fixed Mobile Convergence solutions is old news. Not so. In fact, analysts suggest[1] that the market has grown significantly in recent years and will increase to $7.65 billion this year, then reach $13.11 billion by 2029 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.4%.
The growth can, it is claimed, be attributed to advancements in both fixed and wireless networks, the growing need for seamless call transitions, and the demand for unified communication systems.
Regardless, this clearly shows there’s appetite for FMC – which may be a surprise to many who think the problem has already been solved.
In fact, among the many enabling solutions available to support telcos, it could be argued that few define themselves in such muddied waters as those that claim to support fixed-mobile convergence. Why is this the case?
In simple terms, it’s because many of the FMC products on the market fall well short of delivering a complete, intelligent solution. The reason might be because the term FMC has increasingly been co-opted and defined by marketing and has been stretched to include what are really just workarounds, for example simple call forking. Solutions like that aren’t really FMC at all. Sure, they make all phones ring, but without any underlying intelligence.
While the research may be optimistic, it may also point to customers being underwhelmed by what may have been described as FMC by a service provider – so, they’re looking for a better solution. They may not know what that should be, but they know that what they have doesn’t fit the bill.
So, if you’re evaluating FMC solutions for your B2B customers, it's important to understand what true fixed mobile convergence is, and for that matter what it isn’t. With that in mind, let’s make the distinction clear.
What is true FMC?
By definition, true fixed/mobile convergence should deliver the seamless, intelligent integration of fixed and mobile networks. This means the customer (user) will have one consistent identity, one service experience, and one set of features across both fixed and mobile access. In more detail, features should include:
- Single number/identity, supporting a service profile that works across mobile, desk phone, soft client, wi-fi, etc, enabling presence, voicemail, call forwarding, and feature settings that are unified, not duplicated.
- Service parity, where calling features (call transfer, conferencing, short codes, etc.) work identically regardless of access, with intelligent handover between networks without dropped calls.
- Network integration at core, where instead of replicating calls to multiple devices, the mobile core (IP or PBX) and fixed network interwork and policies (for example, least-cost routing, billing, or QoS) apply consistently.
- Seamless user experience, allowing the customer to move between networks as required, for instance mid-call if they leave the office Wi-Fi and need to continue the call seamlessly on 5G. Also, applications like voicemail, messaging, or collaborating tools are shared and consistent.
- Take account of user status, availability and preferences – sending calls to the mobile, if that’s preferred, and not making a call to a device used by a customer if they are already on a session on another device.
What isn’t true FMC?
The problem (as we noted earlier) is that many current so-called FMC solutions (including, quite possibly, the one you’re using) don’t meet the criteria above. They advertise themselves as FMC, but they’re not. Call forking or dual ringing, for example, may be better than no solution at all but such a solution is delivering is duplication, not convergence. These solutions fall short because, in the case of call forking for example:
- Incoming calls are simply sent, simultaneously, to both desk phone and mobile.
- Outgoing calls from the mobile may still use the mobile identity (MSISDN) rather than the office/PBX enterprise number.
- Features aren’t consistent. For example, the PBX may support transfer and hunt groups while the mobile does not.
- There’s no seamless hand-off. If you’re on, say, a Wi-Fi call and you leave the Wi-Fi coverage area, the call doesn’t simply move to cellular. It simply drops.
- Policy, billing, and call control all remain split. They’re not unified at core.
The truth is many of the so-called FMC products go no further than delivering the surface appearance of fixed mobile convergence without the true integration that enterprises, in particular, actually need and that should define true FMC.
To summarise all this briefly, true FMC is one number, one voicemail, one call control, same features, seamless mobility across fixed and mobile with deep core integration.
What passes as FMC in many products is, often, really something more like “Pseudo” FMC, amounting to multiple devices ringing at once, fragmented identities and inconsistent services.
True vs. Pseudo FMC – a few examples
Nothing spells out the differences between true and Pseudo FMC we’ve identified above like real-world use cases so let’s touch on a couple of them to make things clear.
One example of true FMC might be operators who use IMS to integrate their fixed, broadband and mobile services. In these cases, true FMC will ensure the subscriber has one SIP/IMS identity wherever they’re calling from and, in all cases, the call will be anchored in the IMS core. The subscriber will benefit from single voicemail, presence, and service logic, seamless handover if and when required, and consistent supplementary service.
Another example of true FMC might be an enterprise utilising Cloud PBX/Mobile core integration. In these cases, the mobile number and enterprise extension will be identical – or treated as such. Calls made on the mobile device can present the enterprise caller ID, invoke PBX features, and use enterprise dial plans. Incoming calls route through the Cloud PBX first, so policies like recording, hunt groups, or call queuing can be applied persistently.
In contrast, let’s look at a couple of Pseudo FMC use cases. We’ve touched on call forking already and, in those cases, a call rings on both the desk phone and mobile but the outbound mobile call still uses the mobile number, not the enterprise number. There’s no handover between networks, and no services supported across all devices.
Mobile OTT apps are another common, Pseudo FMC use case. In these, a PBX vendor provides a smartphone app that mimics a desk extension. The trouble is, it works only when the app is active, probably relies on push notifications and frequently breaks when switching between Wi-Fi and cellular.
Worse, this approach doesn’t take account of calls that are made to the mobile device over your mobile network – the client may be in a session, but the mobile remains free to accept calls. In other words, it’s not mobile native. You can think of this sort of approach as a “parallel service”, and that, of course, is not true FMC.
To summarise again, true FMC is integrated at the network level. Pseudo FMC is usually a bolted-on solution deploying device-level workarounds to provide what is really no more than a fragmented user experience.
The bottom line
The fact that many FMC solutions have been around for some time despite being, in reality, only Pseudo FMC combined with the fact that there’s still strong market demand for FMC products only services to underline its importance. For enterprises, in fact, it’s central.
Business users want and need to have seamless operations, and the FMC solutions they’ve adopted often aren’t delivering it so they’re not benefitting from the valuable, core service their providers really should be delivering to them – FMC that, for one example, actually takes into account status and availability. Put another way, demand for intelligent FMC that meets customers’ real-world requirements remains strong.
Fixed Mobile Convergence with Gintel
At Gintel, we believe that FMC deployed correctly and that delivers optimal outcomes requires having full visibility and control of the status of the terminals assigned to a user. Achieving this requires integration with the core network, typically IMS deployed. Gintel’s FMC platform can, for example, check to see which if any of the designated terminating lines are busy and then take the appropriate action, according to pre-defined rules. It can also check the status of the user.
FMC needs the status of both the user and the device to perform and deliver optimally. It must also give the user the ability to set personalised preferences (do not disturb, available to a whitelist, unavailable, voicemail, etc). This bespoke status function must configurable directly by the user or an administrator. If this isn’t the case, FMC is reduced to being little more than a forwarding or basic forking service with no intelligence.
If you want to learn more about real fixed-mobile convergence, please download our briefing paper here.
Talk to Gintel
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Our telecommunications heritage, know-how and experience are backed by a track record of delivering successful solutions to Tier 1 operators, MVNOs, ISPs and Systems Integrators.
Interested? Get in touch to learn how to do FMC correctly.
[1] https://www.openpr.com/news/4037074/5g-technology-fueling-growth-of-the-fixed-mobile-convergence
