Telecom New Zealand Hosts Leading Telcos At Convergence Summit

Telecom will host around 30 representatives from the 24 member Telcos that comprise the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA). The event will take place March 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand. The FMCA is a global association of telecom operators whose goal is to speed the development and uptake of fixed-mobile converged products and services.

Representing nearly one billion customers worldwide, the FMCA's objectives include developing the product requirement definitions for convergence technologies, collaborating with standard, specification and certification organisations to encourage consistency across product and equipment standards, and facilitating the rapid adoption of converged technologies among customers.

"Telecom New Zealand is recognised as a significant and valued member of the FMCA, and we look forward to using this Auckland meeting as an opportunity to talk to our customers about some of the exciting products and services they can expect in the near future." said Telecom's General Manager Wired, Matt Crockett.

The summit will be attended by worldwide experts in fixed-mobile converged solutions, including BT's Ryan Jarvis who headed up the delivery of BT Fusion, the world's first commercially available converged solution.

Telecom's General Manager Mobile, Kevin Kenrick, said converged products and services represent the future of telecommunications, allowing customers to be "always best connected" wherever they are.

The FMCA meets quarterly at locations around the world, and this is the first meeting to be held in New Zealand.

The 24 members of the FMCA are AT&T Corp (US), Belgacom (Belgium), Bezeq (Israel), Brasil Telecom (Brazil), BT Plc (UK, chair), Cegetel (France), Cesky Telecom (The Czech Republic), Deutsche Telekom / T-Com (Germany), Eircom (Ireland), Korea Telecom (South Korea), KPN (Netherlands), NTT Com (Japan), Optus (Australia), PCCW (Hong Kong), Rogers Wireless Inc. (Canada, vice-chair), Swisscom (Switzerland), TDC Mobile (Denmark), Telecom Italia (Italy), Telecom New Zealand (New Zealand, host), TeliaSonera (Sweden), Telkom South Africa (South Africa) and TRUE (Thailand).

Two additional members will be announced shortly.