Motorola heralds convergence of mobile and fixed communications through unlicensed mobile access

Articulating the benefits of UMA at this week's Mobile Networks Evolution conference in Dubai hosted by analyst group Informa, Motorola Network's EMEA Solutions Marketing Manager Malcolm Latham noted that "UMA offers the potential to deliver improved indoor coverage at lower cost using broadband and Wi-Fi."

More than 80 delegates, including the key telecoms operators in the region, attended the Informa conference.

Motorola's Enhanced UMA solution enables operators to provide new user experiences, such as the ability to answer fixed-line calls on the mobile handset when in the home or office.

"UMA is not just for mobile operators, fixed-line operators should look to UMA to help drive broadband sales and differentiate their fixed-line service. Motorola Enhanced UMA can provide an added incentive to buy broadband. If marketed as a bundle of fixed and mobile services, it can offer an attractive deal to the customer and improved customer retention for the operator," he said.

Operators looking to IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to deliver converged services in the future can launch services using UMA ahead of IMS/VCC (Voice Call Continuity) availability, and so gain market advantage. "To the user the technology is irrelevant - what is attractive is improved services and lower costs. UMA and IMS/VCC services can co-exist and be sold as the same market offering," he added.

Motorola is bringing its UMA message to Middle East telecoms operators looking for ways, increase customer loyalty and market share in an increasingly competitive regional landscape.

Noel Kirkaldy, Director, Wireless Broadband MEA Motorola, also held a pre-conference workshop focused on deploying a profitable WiMAX network and chaired a panel discussion on the role of WiMAX in the future of the network.

With extensive experience in the region, Kirkaldy will give an overview of how the WiMAX protocol can increase network flexibility and adoption of the technology by enabling multi-vendor devices to communicate; reducing costs and delivering a step change in performance through broadband speeds.