European Telcos Must Look Beyond Simple One-Phone Solutions

As many as 50% of European online consumers claim to know what integrated fixed and mobile phones are, reflecting a combination of consumer confusion and technology and market realities. The one-phone service comes in two flavors: the one the industry is mostly talking about, using UMA or IMS/SIP technologies that integrate fixed broadband and mobile networks, and the one that many consumers seem to be interested in currently — just cheap mobile calls at home, delivered via their regular mobile phone. This mobile home-zone solution requires no integration with fixed networks. Mobile operators, especially in Germany, have a head start over integrated fixed and mobile telcos with their home-zone flavor of one-phone solutions. Forrester thinks there's a bright future for integrated fixed and mobile phones along with many other service offerings that an increasingly fragmented customer base will demand. Facing much more intense competition from other technology platforms and Internet pure plays, integrated telcos should act aggressively and leave behind their mobile cannibalization fears and fascination with discussing technology for its own sake.