TeliaSonera to be first with UMA fixed/mobile convergence

By Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 29 August 2006 06:56

Home IT

Danish telco, TeliaSonera, will launch in November the first commercial service based on the global UMA standard enabling a cellular handset to be used to make VoIP calls over a home's WiFi and broadband connection, and mobile calls outside.
According to an AFP report, TeliaSonera announced on Monday 28 August that it would launch in November a converged fixed mobile service under the name "Home Free" enabling callers to use a mobile phone at home as an IP phone.

The head of TeliaSonera in Denmark, Jesper Broekner, said in a statement: "We are introducing a product that combines the best of three worlds: mobile, fixed-line and Internet. Danish families will now be able to cancel their fixed line subscriptions at home without losing their home phone numbers, and at the same time save more than 20 percent on their phone bill."

TeliaSonera said that, in future the technology could enable a cellphone to be used an IP phone if the user is in a Wi-Fi hotspot outdoors. The AFP report quoted TeliaSonera spokesman Rune Fick Hansen saying "We chose to concentrate first on usage at home...We may in a later phase extend this solution outside the home."

Motorola announced in July that it had been selected by TeliaSonera to deploy its commercial UMA fixed mobile convergence solution for TeliaSonera's planned UMA service launch in the second half of 2006.

Motorola said the contract "follows successful trials in 2005 and 2006 with TeliaSonera in Denmark and represents an important step forward in delivering Motorola's vision of Seamless Mobility."

Motorola will supply network infrastructure and integration and deployment services. Handsets for use with the service have not been announced. Motorola said that "TeliaSonera has trialled Motorola's A910 device" but did not confirm that the A910 was part of the deal.

According to Motorola "UMA allows operators to use wireless LANs connected to fixed broadband connections as an alternative low-cost radio access network. With the technology users can seamlessly roam from cellular wide area radio access networks to wireless LAN to take advantage of better, higher speed, coverage and lower transport costs. Operators can therefore provide communications that are cost-effective in the home or at hot spots and the wide-area together with the convenience of a single handset with a single number, contacts book, voicemail and one bill. In addition, the delivery of wireless broadband to the mobile device when under WLAN coverage offers the potential to provide new data services for subscribers.

The Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) standard has been developed by global cellular standards body 3GPP and is already being trialled by several operators around the world. Clearly, it has the potential to erode cellular revenues but given users' existing preferences for cellular telephony and their close relationship with their cellphone (it's their personal phone with their personal number and stores all their contact details) it seems more likely that UMA will enable cellular operators to own the customer and provide the full range of telephone services. (in Denmark TeliaSonera focuses primarily on mobile services, broadband services and cable TV and is the second largest telco in the country).

A recent survey by Motorola indicates that more than 50 percent of the mobile subscribers in Western Europe would likely sign up for an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA1) service within the next 12 months, provided that mobile calls in the home were priced the same as fixed line calls.

Vodafone has already flagged its intention to expand from being an operator of cellular networks only. Earlier this year it set out a strategy to be a 'total communications supplier' by, initially, reselling DSL services and integrating PC, internet and mobile services to offer 'seamless interoperability.