I’m at the Von Europe listening to presentations on fixed mobile convergence (FMC). Current topic is “quad-play”, the new holy grail for operators. Quad-play is what you get when you combine TV, fixed phone, mobile phone and broadband access in one package.

In my world that translates to “internet, internet, wireless internet and – you guessed it – internet”. Voice and TV will be applications running on top of internet. What I need from my operator is a fast and stable IP connection. No more, no less. We’re not there quite yet, though, so in the mean time we will have to pay for different data transportation technologies for different mediums.

FMC is also a way for operators to prevent their customers from switching provider. The more you buy from one vendor, the less likely you are to change.

FMC is not Mobile 2.0. Internet Mobile Convergence is. The telecom world thinks that IMS (as in IP Multimedia System) will provide this bridge. Some other thinks that IMS is a bloated, over designed and unnecessary technology. I think the latter ones are correct.

Never the less, different technology worlds and markets are converging. Internet is the driver and quad-play is a temporary transition stage. No matter what the operators tell you.

Updated: Nicolai was also there.

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