UMA Today Magazine: Beyond Voice Page 21

FALL 2008

UMA TODAY

T-MOBILE GOES FIXED

In July 2008, T-Mobile

formally unveiled its newest service offer "@Home." The @
Home service provides subscribers with unlimited calling
from a fixed-line home phone for just $10/month. The
service is equivalent to adding a second line to an existing
T-Mobile subscription, yet it connects directly into
subscribers' existing home phone systems. Subscribers
must have an existing T-Mobile GSM subscription of $40/
month or more to add the @Home service to their plans.

"We found that a lot of families don't want to get rid

of their home phone," said Britt Wehrman, director of
product development at T-Mobile. The @Home service was
trialed for several months in Dallas and Seattle before the
nationwide launch in June 2008. At the end of the trial,
T-Mobile reported that an incredible 97% of users opted to
keep the service.

The competition for home phone service is fierce, and

prices are coming down. It is estimated that the average
fixed-line phone bill from a US incumbent operator is
$65/month. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator,
provides an unlimited fixed-line voice service for $40/
month. Vonage, the nation's largest independent VoIP
provider, delivers a similar offer for $25/month. And now
T-Mobile, the nation's fourth largest mobile operator,
has undercut the entire market and set the bar at a low
$10/month.

UMA/GAN PROVIDES MOBILE OPER-
ATORS WITH MORE OPPORTUNITIES

The 3GPP UMA/GAN standard is at the heart of a mobile
operator's fixed-line VoIP service. With a UMA/GAN
network infrastructure, mobile operators can extend
existing services to deliver a number of compelling fixed-
mobile convergence (FMC) services including dual-mode
handsets, femtocells and fixed-line VoIP services over
fixed broadband networks.

T-Mobile is using its UMA infrastructure wisely. The

company's @Home service relies on a UMA-enabled
terminal adaptor, specifically the Linksys WRTU-54G. It is
a complete home router, Wi-Fi access point and provides
two RJ-11 analog telephone ports where the consumer's
existing corded and cordless telephones are connected.
T-Mobile had previously launched a UMA/GAN-based
dual-mode handset service, and a new @Home service
became a logical extension of the operator's strategy of
accelerating FMS.

UMA-based terminal adaptors enable mobile operators

to leverage an existing R99 or R4 core network rather than
investing in a new IMS or VoIP switch. The terminal
adaptor represents itself to the core mobile network as
another mobile phone (including SIM credentials), and
it simply converts mobile service into a standard fixed-
analog telephone service.

PUTTING MORE FIXED INTO FIXED-
MOBILE CONVERGENCE

For a mobile opera-

tor, offering a fixed-line home phone service is similar to
offering a mobile subscriber a second line. Thus a fixed-
line service can be positioned as a logical extension to a
subscriber's existing `family plan.'

One key advantage of using UMA/GAN to provide the

fixed-line home phone service is that the fixed and mobile
numbers are homed from the same MSC. With both lines
on the same voice switch, there are a number of fixed-
mobile service integration possibilities. Operators can of-
fer a single voicemail box for fixed and mobile lines. Or
with a little development, the service can detect that the
subscriber is at home, and provide simultaneous ringing
on fixed and mobile phones, adding a new level of conve-
nience to mobile service in the home.

Customers looking to streamline their phone services

and maximize their benefits recognize this as a win-win
service offer. Getting a home phone for the cost of a second
mobile line is a good deal. For operators, offering a home
phone service reduces churn, increases ARPU (average
revenue per user) and sets the stage for a range of new
FMC services. It seems like fixed is the new mobile.

Previously, mobile
operators have largely
been shut out of the
market for providing
fixed-line services.