Though you still can get a good argument going over whether fixed mobile convergence is directly revenue accretive for a mobile operator, that isn’t stopping suppliers, who argue there are strategic benefits, in any case.

 

Consider ip.access, a developer of femtocell and picocell solutions. The company’s new 3G Home Routing technology that connects 3G phones into a home network using its Oyster 3G femtocell.

 

Using a femtocell, a 3G phone can connect directly to a home network, enabling new applications such as streaming live video from a home media server to the handset, using the phone to browse the music on the home server and select tracks to play, or displaying a slideshow of phone photos on the TV.

 

“Femtocells (News - Alert) can open up these applications to any 3G handset quickly and easily, putting your mobile phone at the heart of your connected home,” said ip.access VP of Marketing, Dr. Andy Tiller. 

 

Because all the data traffic is routed locally over the femtocell, the end-user benefits from full HSDPA data rates for all their connected home applications.  3G Home Routing removes the delay associated with carrying data traffic from the phone over the mobile operator’s core network and back, which also saves costs for the operator.

 

Offloading traffic is the business driver, along with improved indoor coverage.