Convergence Alive and Well in Italy

Fastweb and Vodafone have announced an agreement to offer converged fixed and mobile services to customers.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, customers subscribing to the mobile giant’s existing Vodafone Casa service will have access to broadband Internet access, via high-speed ADSL modem to access Fastweb's broadband network.

 

As TMC’s Erik Linask reported in August, Vodaphone Casa offers subscribers the opportunity to pay only one monthly phone bill (i.e., discontinue use of their landline phones), cutting monthly costs substantially. Customers will continue to pay for cell phone usage in most areas, but, in their self-defined ‘home zone,’ will pay lower-cost landline rates. While subscribing to Vodafone Casa will slightly increase monthly rates, consumers will still pay less overall for their monthly telephony service. They will also have the added benefit of being having a single number and a single handset for both home and mobile use.

 

Vodafone is deploying Lucent’s SurePay Real Time Rating and Charging Suite to determine where a call is originated. A subscriber can define their HomeZone area and benefit from a different cost structure when originating calls from their home area. Subscribers benefit from a single number, single service for all of their communications.

 

Analysts view this move as Vodafone’s response to their competitors (Orange, O2) who have already announced they will offer converged fixed-line and mobile services.

 

Readers who are interested in learning more about Fixed/Mobile Convergence (FMC) are invited to attend the inaugural IMS Expo in San Diego CA, October 11–13. The conference will cover the emerging opportunities and challenges associated with successfully launching FMC services on a large scale.