Cable & Wireless UK seeks mobile partner
UK carrier Cable & Wireless today revealed that it is searching for a mobile company to partner with the beleaguered telco in its fixed mobile convergence strategy.
Cable & Wireless yesterday became one of 12 companies to be provisionally awarded a license for spectrum in the 1781.7-1785MHz band paired with the 1876.7-1880MHz bands.
The licences are technology neutral and targeted at systems to be managed on a low power basis. Potential applications for these bands include private GSM networks in office buildings or campuses as most mobile phones operate at these frequencies.
A spokeswoman for Cable & Wireless said the operator would use the spectrum to develop a fixed mobile convergence strategy, including the possible creation of private mobile networks within enterprise campuses.
The spokeswoman made allusions to British Telecom’s own convergence product, Fusion, which allows users to make calls over Bluetooth when at home or work and over cellular when outside.
“We are presently holding talks with a number of players with regard to finding a partner for mobile services,” the C&W spokeswoman said. When asked if those discussions could stretch to a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement, the spokeswoman replied, “we’re using the term ‘partner’ at the moment, that’s all I can say.”
C&W last month announced a reorganisation that will see the company reduce its customer base from approximately 30,000 customers to about 3,000. The move is designed to allow the company to concentrate on fewer, larger customers and introduce more focused services.
BT meanwhile, which also grabbed a swathe of spectrum in yesterday’s auction, was less specific about its proposed usage of the spectrum. “It’s really for indoor networking and definitely for GSM services,” a BT spokesman said.
“It’s suitable for voice, but not really for data,” he added. “We plan on using it to deploy services that are complimentary to Fusion. Perhaps, some kind of basic mobile service which offers voice only capability,” he said.
Dean Bubley of Disruptive Analysis commented that we can now expect to see businesses exerting a much greater level of power over mobile operators. “If large enterprises and government bodies have a choice of 16 mobile operators (and probably countless MVNOs), it seems very likely that corporate cellular tariffs will cease to be such a burden on CIOs’ telecom budgets,” he said.
Bubley added that there will probably be some interesting international-oriented business models emerging as the licensees make use of the spectrum. “Other bits of cleverness that may emerge – maybe using GSM phones to dial-in to VoIP gateways, or perhaps something with innovative roaming arrangements.”
Jeremy Green, analyst at Ovum, noted that the on premises network model means that there is no need for complex, expensive, dual mode handsets and unproven handover mechanisms.
Green said that Teleware, one of the other successful bidders, has tested a solution based on a dual SIM battery packs.
“This relies on user-initiated handover and is possibly a bit clunky compared to the seamless in-call handover promised by dual-mode technologies; on the other hand, it will work on even the cheapest, oldest GSM handsets, making a DECT replacement application a workable proposition for a wide range of organisations and staff functions,” he said.
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Tags: BT, Cable & Wireless, MVNO, UK