Consumer fixed-mobile convergence: Rogers Wireless' marketing tips

Michael Morisy, News Writer
10 Dec 2008
00:00

Telecoms must understand what consumers are looking for from a fixed-mobile convergence

(FMC) offering before they bring the technology to market.

For one thing, the primary driver for adoption can vary widely by market and market segment. Many consumers are looking to cut wireless calling charges by making calls over a Wi-Fi connection, according to Paul DeBeasi, research analyst for Burton Group. Others are looking for improved indoor coverage.

'[The demand] is primarily in areas where there is poor coverage, as more and more people are not getting landline phones and are using their mobile phone as their primary phone,' DeBeasi said. 'For $99, you can put a femtocell in your apartment and you've got five bars of coverage.'

A femtocell is a small device, similar to a Wi-Fi access point, which subscribers can put in their homes to create a small coverage area of the carrier's cellular signal that is compatible with any of that carrier's line of phones. Consumers in rural areas who have decided to ditch their landlines are particularly interested in the technology as a means of improving their wireless coverage at home.

Improved indoor coverage from femtocells is a good way to boost customer retention, but unlimited calling over a Wi-Fi connection with a dual-mode phone has its own perks. It can also boost retention, and carriers can charge an extra monthly fee for the service. Also, running calls over a Wi-Fi connection takes some of the load off a carrier's backhaul network.

When Canadian telecom Rogers Wireless first imagined its dual-mode FMC solution, it found that the name for the service had the wrong marketing message for its subscribers.

Originally dubbed 'Home Calling Zone,' the service almost suggested a femtocell solution. Rogers found that another moniker better captured what consumers wanted with their new dual-mode Wi-Fi phones: TalkSpot. The service lets users make unlimited, clear calls from their cell phones when they are calling within distance of a compatible Wi-Fi connection.

'We did the research, and it seemed that the TalkSpot name better communicated what the benefits of the product were,' said Reade Barber, director of new services market launch with Rogers Wireless. 'The main benefit was that you could talk unlimited.'

FMC technology has been a hot topic for carriers lately, particularly as they start playing with femtocell deployments and the cost of embedding Wi-Fi goes down.

But while the number of capable devices has boomed while prices have dropped -- there are an estimated 4 million UMA (the leading dual-mode standard) devices worldwide today -- carrier adoption has somewhat lagged as the consumer pitch is fine tuned.

For example, while Rogers has found that the unlimited-minutes message resonates, other telecoms might need to emphasize the improved local coverage. Likewise, Rogers saw little success when talking about improved home coverage.

'Rogers has great coverage, so [customers] don't really have that issue,' Barber said. 'That's not something Rogers is marketing.'

And while so far the primary customers have been early adopters, Barber was bullish on the prospects of larger deployments.

'I think any new service, it's a challenge to get it out there and understood by the majority of customers,' he said, declining to give specific adoption figures. 'The people on the sidelines are still mulling it, they're thinking about it, what it means to give up their home phone for a dual-mode device.'

But after extensive sales training, pitched primarily by in-store employees, the customer calls have started coming in, Barber said.

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