BT's fixed-mobile telco union to mushroom

Big names may join but some heavyweights shunned

The BT-steered Fixed-to-Mobile Convergence Alliance looks like it might be getting some big name members, according to reports, but some equally big names aren't going to be joining the party.

The alliance, formed last month after BT and Vodafone buddied up, could be expanded by a slew of new international members, notably France's Cegetel and Japan's NTT DoCoMo, according to the Financial Times.

Others companies rumoured to be joining the alliance include Canadian telco Rogers, Australia's Telstra, and Swisscom.

Speculation has it that other operators are unlikely to be joining the list. Vodafone has apparently thumbed its nose at the offer and Orange didn't get an invite.

A BT spokesman said the telco was in talks with interested parties but couldn't reveal any names. "[The alliance] is something very much in its infancy and we hope it will grow," he said. The only confirmed members are BT itself, Brazil Telecom and Korea Telecom.

The aim behind the convergence group is to help the fixed-line operators stave off the falling revenues associated with the global move towards mobile telephony and create a union that will see a phone created that would work as both a fixed line and mobile device.

Jeremy Green, analyst at Ovum, said the dream will face a lot of challenges before it can be realised.

"One of the critical challenges for FMC [fixed mobile convergence] is handset technology. FMC that is based on a single handset requires two radios and the ability to handover between Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and cellular. Given the teething problems we've seen with 3G/2G handover, this will be tough to engineer," he said in a statement.