As wireless-to-wireless local number portability (LNP) soon becomes a reality in the USA, wireline-to-wireless LNP remains the last portability barrier for wireless carriers to overcome. By mid-2004, Gartner analysts expect the telecoms regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve a wireline-to-wireless LNP mandate that will have a major effect on the USA telecommunications market.
Gartner analysts said this action by the FCC would allow customers to take their phone numbers with them when they switch between wireline and wireless carriers.
"The impact of such a mandate will be more dramatic than wireless number portability," said Ron Cowles, research vice president for Gartner. "It will turn marketing strategies upside down and have a significant impact on customer calling patterns and areas, state and federal regulations, pricing and interconnection agreements, and product offerings and plans. It will also likely raise questions about market coverage, reach, telecom quality and security."
According to Gartner, nearly 10% of wireline consumers will transfer their service to wireless once they have the option to keep their current wireline phone numbers. That is in addition to customers that have already migrated from wireline to wireless and are likely to do so despite the number portability limitation.
"In the longer term only service providers with business models that offer consumers a full range of both wireline and wireless services, and easy transition between the two technologies, will succeed," said Alex Winogradoff, research vice president for Gartner. "Unaffiliated wireless operators will find it difficult to compete against affiliated operators and will likely go out of business unless they adopt a more comprehensive business model or partner with, acquire or be acquired by a wireline operator."
Carriers that already own wireline and wireless operations will be the least vulnerable to a restructuring of the market, but Gartner advises that they must develop truly integrated wireline and wireless solutions.
"Many technical, product and regulatory issues will have to be resolved before wireline-to-wireless number portability can be fully implemented," said Winogradoff. "Wireline-to-wireless LNP will predominately affect the mass market, but it is unlikely, in the near term, that it will impact the business market to any significant degree until wireless coverage and quality-of-service issues are resolved."
"The small business, small office and home office markets will be affected as remote workers and small businesses increasingly use mobile phones for inbound calls, especially where the quality of service is good," Cowles said."
Posted to the site on 28th August 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/9606.php