BT freezes Fusion: next generation replacement rumoured

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 07 February 2008 03:23

Opinion and Analysis

BT has stopped marketing its fixed-mobile convergence service, Fusion to the consumer market, and it has hinted at a replacement which sounds remarkably like DataWind's PocketSurfer2 hand-held GPRS connected Internet-browsing and email device. It's a very significant development. BT does not own a mobile network in the UK so, faced with the problem of providing its customers with mobile communications at maximum profitability it dreamed up Fusion which uses a dual mode WiFi-cellular handset (an early trial used bluetooth-cellular). In the home it automatically makes and receives calls via the BT supplied ADSL service and a wireless access point. Outside, it operates over a cellular network on which BT sells access.

The attraction for consumers is that calls made from in-home are cheaper - however price cuts in cellular services have eroded his advantage - and there is only one handset on which has all the contact numbers stored. The attraction for BT is that it retains ownership of the customer and keeps more revenue and traffic on its network rather than having to pay its wholesale supplier.

The UK's Telegraph newspaper this week described Fusion as "a spectacular flop", claiming that just 45,000 people had signed up to the service. BT itself has been cagey on numbers.

According to the BBC, "BT is not marketing Fusion to consumers at the moment, but is working on a new device that will give customers access to the Internet and emails... BT says its new product will be like the 'Blackberry' service, which is a handheld gadget with a full keyboard that can send and receive emails. The BT device is undergoing trials but the firm does not have a launch date."

This is exactly what DataWind's Pocketsurfer2, recently launched in Australia, does. And it comes bundled with the GPRS access: you don't require a subscription with a cellular service provider. In Australia it comes with $20 hours per month access for the first year. After that, $50 per year will get you 20 hours access per month and $20 per month unlimited access.

Getting taken up by BT would be a major coup for a small company like DataWind, but some reports suggest that BT is looking for a devices that will allow users to view the hugely popular Facebook and YouTube video sites You can't watch streaming videoon the PocketSurfer2.