The imminent launch of BT’s Project Bluephone represents the first step in a move towards converged fixed and mobile networks and is meant to act as a stepping stone towards realising the telco's 21st Century Network strategy.
The aim of Project Bluephone is to provide users with a single cordless handset that routes calls and data packets over fixed line networks when the user is in the office or at home and switches seamlessly over to Vodafone's mobile network when they are out and about. Other mobile operators are expected to sign up to the scheme over time.
The idea is that, when customers come into an office using a BT Broadband line and are within 25 metres of a specialised wireless base station, phone calls or data sessions will be transmitted from the base station to the handset.
Such transmissions will initially be undertaken using Bluetooth radio signals as the first Bluephone handsets will be based on Class One Bluetooth chipsets developed by Broadcom. The devices are expected to launch in June and are likely to be aimed predominantly at the consumer market, although BT refuses to discuss any more details at present.
But a second Wi-Fi-based Bluephone is anticipated to ship by the end of this year or by early 2006 and should be more appealing to the business world. A third WiMax-based offering is likewise under development, but all of the handsets will include functions such as an address book, a voice bank, missed call alerts and call divert. Users will also obtain a single bill covering all of their calls no matter what transport mechanism is used.
While BT has to date pitched Bluephone as a means for customers to cut the costs of their voice calls, consolidate their billing mechanisms, and boost productivity, it has also stated that it aims to generate about £1bn in mobility and convergence revenues within five years.
And it is this revenue potential that is one of the key drivers behind the telco's thrust into this emerging market, says Michelle de Lussanet, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
"All of the telcos in Europe woke up in a sweat, realising that their cash cows were shrinking. Any fixed minute growth was mainly down to Internet dialup, but broadband is also causing this to shrink. So they realised something quite serious was happening and this, combined with the wider industry trend towards IT and telecoms convergence, caused them to revisit the situation," she says.
