Despite growing interest in fixed?mobile convergence (FMC) solutions among both operators and vendors, until now the level of interest among consumers has remained unclear.

Consumer Demand for Fixed?Mobile Convergence Solutions: a survey of end users analyses the results of a survey of more than 3000 consumers across France, Germany and Great Britain. It points the way for success in the overlapping fixed and mobile voice markets by answering your key questions:

• Which market segments are most likely to be receptive to FMC devices and services?
  • How are such segments defined by demographic characteristics such as age, gender, working status, household size and household composition?
  • What existing telecoms services do they use?
  • What features will be most important in encouraging consumers to purchase FMC solutions?
    • Is it more important for people to save money on calls or to get better deals on combined subscriptions to landline, mobile and broadband services?
    • Will a desire for better indoor mobile coverage drive FMC solutions, if mobile operators fail to address the issue directly?
    • Will consumers be attracted by the ability to access a range of services and features (e.g. voicemail, email, contact lists) from a single device?
    • How important will it be for FMC devices to enable cheaper and better-quality video calls at home compared to those available with today's 3G phones?
  • What features will most deter people from replacing their existing phone(s) with an FMC device?
    • Are the main concerns of vendors and operators also of concern to consumers?
    • How important is call handover between the home environment and elsewhere?
    • What are the consumer preferences for the type and number of phone numbers assigned to an FMC device?
    • How much of a deterrent is the need for consumers to buy and set up a home base station?
  • Who will prefer FMC solutions versus alternatives based on fixed?mobile substitution?

Who should read this report?

• Any operator (fixed, mobile, broadband) considering deploying FMC solutions: this report is an essential resource for executives and managers in market intelligence and corporate strategy groups, providing independent, end-user responses by market segment that can be used to plan consumer offerings
  • Equipment vendors, developers and retailers of FMC solutions: this report will help business development managers to weigh up the trade-offs between alternative features to incorporate into an FMC solution, by giving them insight into the most important market segments, the features that customers value and the factors that will deter consumers from buying an FMC solution
    • Mobile operators: in order to compete against FMC solutions, it is crucial to understand which market segments are most likely to be attracted by an FMC solution and which would prefer alternatives (e.g. home-zone pricing from mobile-only operators). This report provides such insights for heads of mobility, CTOs and technology strategy managers, as well as information on which features are most likely to attract consumers to, or deter them from, various single-device options for making voice calls in the home and elsewhere
      • Investors and financial analysts: strategy analysts can gain insight into consumer expectations of FMC that will shape the investment decisions of vendors and operators.

Katrina Bond (Principal Analyst) specialises in mobile telecoms, and has written reports for Analysys Research on fixed?mobile substitution and VoIP, the mobile content and entertainment market, Western European mobile forecasts, mobile data solutions for businesses, GPRS roaming, pricing of GPRS services, GPRS billing, mobile portals and ASPs and m-commerce. She is a regular contributor to Analysys Research?s Mobile Networks and Services online market intelligence service. Before joining Analysys in 1998, Katrina worked as a consultant in Australia.

Dr Yanli Suo-Saunders (Research Analyst) joined Analysys Research in 2004. Yanli has managed several customised reporting projects in the wireless field and is also a regular contributor to the Mobile Networks and Services database. She specialises in Asian-Pacific and Southern European mobile markets. Prior to joining the company, Yanli worked as a business analyst for Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Yanli holds a Ph.D. degree in strategic management from the University of Southampton.