For long, it is always a black-and-white boundary between fixed and wireless services at the market anywhere around the world since telecommunication came into the use nearly twenty years ago. An emerging trend, Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) is expected to break the boundary and has brought into the existence where subscribers will be not feel of which fixed or wireless network he or she is attached to. Nonetheless, the result of introducing FMC to the market could be a mystery and its success in the market depends on many factors which are ranging from market demand, complicate network integration to end-user preference.
From the prospective of major operators, equipment providers and related market researchers, the purpose of this study tries to find out what the impact will be if FMC were introduced to fixed, mobile, and integrated networks and the factor that affects the adoption of FMC. In this study, an integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and linguistic assessment is conducted to analysis the FMC impact on four criteria including operation, economic, technical and legal considerations. The data is collected from the interview of 20 experts in the field of telecommunications.
Result shown that regulatory limitations have dominant market power towards all types of operators regarding introducing FMC. The top three ranking of factors should be considered because of FMC in the market for mobile and fixed operators are similar and rated as (1) regulatory limitations, (2) high CapEX and OpEx and (3) cross network integration respectively. As for integrated operators, the impact is little with the ranking as (1) regulation limitations, (2) slow ARPU increment and (3) high CapEX and OpEx. Considering a huge investment like FMC and tightened budget by the operator nowadays, the result of this study can be very useful for the decision maker to evaluate the risk, prioritize the resource and choose the appropriate business model for market launch of FMC service.

Afuah, A. & Tucci, C.L. (2001). Internet Business Models and Strategies: Text and Cases. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Accenture (2005), “Customer needs should drive fixed-mobile convergence strategies”, available at: http://www.accenture.com/Global/Services/By_Industry/Communications/ Access_Newsletter/Article_Index/CustomerNeedsStrategies.htm
Analysis Research (2007), “How to Succeed with Fixed–Mobile Convergence”, available at: http:// research.analysys.com/pdfs/samples/rr263.pdf
Arnbak, J. (2000), Regulation for next-generation technologies and markets, Telecommunications Policy, 24, 477-487.
Bayazit, O. (2006), Use of analytic network process in vendor selection decisions, Benchmarking: An International Journal, 13(5), 566-579.
Bower, J.L. & Christensen, C.M. (1996), Disruptive technologies: catching the wave, The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 13, 75-76.
British Telecom, BT Fusion (2005), “BT launches world's first combined and fixed mobile phone”, available at: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displ ayCategory.do? categoryId=CON-BT-FUSION-R1&s_cid=con_FURL_btfusion
Buellingen, F. & Martin, W. (2004), Development perspectives, firm strategies and applications in mobile commerce, Journal of Business Research, 57, 1402-1408.
Christensen, C.M. (1997), The Innovator's Dilemma, Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Christensen, C.M., Baumann H., Ruggles R. & Salter T.M. (2006), Disruptive innovation for social change , Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review.
Christensen, C.M., Roth, E.A. & Anthony, S.D. (2004), Seeing what’s next: Using theories of innovation to predict industry change, Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Chesbrough, H. & Rosenbloom, R. (2001), The dual-edged role of the business model in leveraging corporate technology investments, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 57–68.
Chang, S.T. (2007), The impact of digital convergence on telecom operators (in Chinese), ChungHwa Telecom, The 2007 Forum of Telecom Industry, National Chen Kung University
China Information Industry Net (CNII) (2006a), “FMC market will reach 92 million subscribers globally after five years” (in Chinese), available at: http://telecom.china byte.com/72/2422072.shtml
China Information Industry Net (CNII) (2006b), “British Telecom inaugurated the history of FMC” (in Chinese), available at: http://telecom.chinabyte.com/65/2614565.shtml
Cheng, C.H., Yang, K.L. & Hwang, C.L. (1999), Evaluating attack helicopters by AHP based on linguistic variable weight, European Journal of Operational Research, 116, 423-435
Chou, Y. & Liu, K.C. (2006), Paradoxical impact of asymmetric regulation in Taiwan’s telecommunications industry: Restriction and rent seeking (in Chinese), Telecommunications Policy, 30, 171–182.
Dagdeviren, M. & Yuksel, I. (2008), Developing a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model for behavior-based safety management, 178, 1717-1733.
DigiTimes Research (2007), “Industry watch—Fixed line operators see FMC as lucrative business by offering various bundled packages to enter the market and bloom up the convergent hardware” (in Chinese), available at: http://www.digitimes.com.tw/n/arti cle.asp?id=0000040620_B5ELUU7K58120OIF16FG4C
Dursch, A., Yen, D.C. & Huang, S.M. (2004), Fourth generation wireless communications: an analysis of future potential and implementation, Computer Standards & Interface, 26(6), 527-541.
European Telecommunication Standard Institution (ETSI) (2007), “ETSI security workshop 2007”, available at: http://portal.etsi.org/security workshop /Presentations07/ETSI_ 2nd_Security_Workshop_Report.pdf.
Femto Forum (2007), “The case for home base stations – picoChip”, available at: http://www.femtoforum.org/femto/aboutfemtocells.php?id=69
Frankel, E.G. (1990), Management of technology change, the great challenge of management for the future, Boston/Dordrecht/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Frieden, R. (2002), Revenge of the Bellheads: How the Netheads lost control, Telecommunications Policy, 26, 425-444.
Forman, E. & Selly, M.A. (2001), “Decisions by objectives”, Expert Choice Inc., available at: http://www.expertchoice.com.
Gunasekaran, V. & Harmantzis, F.C. (2008), Towards a Wi-Fi ecosystem: Technology integration and emerging service models, Telecommunications Policy, 32, 163-181.
Gandal, N. , Salant, D. & Waverman, L. (2003), “Standards in wireless telephone networks”, Telecommunications Policy, 27, 325-332.
Harker, P.T. , & Vargas, L.G. (1990). Reply to "Remarks on the analytic hierarchy process" by .J.S. Dyer, Management Science, 36(3), 269-273.
Harmantzis, F., Yaiparoj, S. & Gunasekaran, V. (2006), On the economics of GPRS networks with WiFi integration, European Journal of Operational Research, 187, 1459-1475.
Herrera, F. & Herrera–Viedma, E. (2000). Linguistic decision analysis: Steps for solving decision problems under linguistic information, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 115, 67–82.
Hsu, A.D. (2004), “The integrated handset of VoIP, WiFi and Cellular phone is available in the market—cause a commotion through telecom industry” (in Chinese) , available at : http://www.communications.org.tw/front/index.asp
Huang, G.P. & Chiu, S.H. (2006), The impact of telecom regulations on the strategies of wireless operations (in Chinese), The 5th Conference of Cross Strait Industrial Movement and Management.
Informa (2007), “FMC players need to converge their interests”, available at: http://www. informars.com
Janssen, M. & Mendys-Kamphorst, E. (2008a), Tripleplay : How do we secure future benefits?, Telecommunication Policy, available online 15 October 2008.
Jassen, M., Kuk, G. & Wagenaar, R. (2008b), A survey of web-based business models for e-government in the Netherlands, Government Information Quarterly, 25, 202-220.
Kahraman, C., Ertay, T. & Buyukozkan, G. (2006), A fuzzy optimization model for QFD planning process using analytic network approach, European Journal of Operational Research, 171, 390–411.
Light Reading (2007), “Deutsche Telekom cancels FMC service”, available at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=119230
Lehr, W., & Mcknight, L. (2003). Wireless Internet access: 3G vs. Wi-Fi? Telecommunications Policy, 27(5/6), 351–370.
Liu, F. H. & Hai, H. L. (2005), The voting analytic hierarchy process method for selecting supplier. International Journal of Production Economics, 97(3), 308–317.
Lucas, J. (2006), “Top 10 disruptive technologies for 2006”, available at: http:// www. billingworld.com/artizcles/editorial/Top-10-Disruptive-Technologies-for-2006.html
Mahadevan, B. (2000), Business models for Internet-based E-commerce：An anatomy, California Management Review, 42, 55-69.
Marketing Intelligence Center (MIC) (2006), “The survey of trend on wireless broadband worldwide and exploring innovation applications” (in Chinese), available at: http://mic.iii.org.tw/index.asp
Marketing Intelligence Center (MIC) (2007a), “The black hole effect is on the verge of breaking out— an analysis of FMC development in major operators at west Europe” (in Chinese), available at: http://mic.iii.org.tw/index.asp
Marketing Intelligence Center (MIC) (2007b), “Merging and alliance－The status of telecommunications market and FMC development in Korea” (in Chinese), available at: http://mic.iii.org.tw/index.asp
Marketing Intelligence Center (MIC) (2007c), “The status of telecommunications and end-user services market in Taiwan” (in Chinese), available at: http://mic.iii.org.tw/ index.asp
Marketing Intelligence Center (MIC) (2007d), “The termination of dual mode handset?－ successor of FMC? Analysis of emerging technology Femtocell impact on existing telecom market” (in Chinese), available at: http://mic.iii.org.tw/index.asp
Marketing Intelligence Center (MIC) (2008), “Analysis the slow increment of broadband subscribers in United States and Japan from the angle of the key players’ strategy and trend in the country” (in Chinese), available at: http://mic.iii.org.tw/index.asp
Munoz, M., Rubio, C.G. (2004), A new model for service and application convergence in B3G/4G networks, Wireless Communications, IEEE, 11(5), 6-12.
Northstream (2004), “Fixed to mobile substitution”, available at: http://www.northstream.us/
Parra-Lopez, C. , Calatrava-Requena, J. & De-Haro-Gimenez, T. (2008), A systemic comparative assessment of the multifunctional performance of alternative olive system in Spain within an AHP-extended framework, Ecological Economics, 64, 820-834.
Patterson, T. (2007), Fixed/mobile convergence, FMC ups the stakes on telephony- Now might be the best time to ante up, Advanced Networking, November, 28.
Preez, G. & Pistorius C. (1999), Technological threat and opportunity assessment, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 61, 215-234.
Preez, G. & Pistorius C. (2002), Analyzing technological threats and opportunities in wireless data services, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 70, 1-20.
Rogers, M.E. (1995), Diffusion of Innovations (Forth ed.). New York: the Free Press.
Rappa, M. (2002), “Business models on the Web. Managing the digital enterprise”, available at: http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html.
Saaty, T.L. (1980), The Analytic Hierarchy Process: Planning, Priority Setting, Resource Allocation, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Satty, T.L. (2001), Decision making with dependence and feedback: The analytic network process (Vol. 2), Pittsburgh, PA: RWS Publications.
Shahid, M.K. & Tang S. (2007a), Convergence and technological innovations in ICT industry: trends and strategies for operators, paper to wireless communications, networking and mobile computing, WiCom 2007. International conference, Sep. 21-25, 2007, Beijing.
Shahid, M.K. ,Tang S & Ren J. (2007b), Convergence in communications industry: Regulatory Challenges, Issues and Trends, paper to wireless communications, networking and mobile computing, WiCom 2007. International conference, Sep. 21-25, 2007, Beijing.
Song, M.Z. (2004), The emerging business model in broadband-based fixed-mobile convergence era, paper to ITS2005, 15th Biennial Conference, Sep. 5-7, 2004, Berlin, Germany.“Connecting societies and markets: Communication technology, policy and impacts”
Takamura, Y. & Tone, K. (2003), A comparative site evaluation study for relocating Japanese government agencies out of Tokyo, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 37, 85-102.
Taaffe, J. (2007), Rates of change, Total Telecom Magazine, 12, 7-8.
Tilson, D. & Lyytinen, K. (2006), The 3G transition: Changes in the US wireless industry, Telecommunications Policy, 30, 569-586.
Tone, K. (1989), A comparative study on AHP and DEA, International Journal on Policy and Information, 13, 57-63.
Vaidya, O.S. & Kumar, S. (2006), Analytic hierarchy process: An overview of applications, European Journal of Operational Research, 169, 1-29.
Yu, C.G. (1998). Introduction to technology management: Forecast and planning of technologies, Taipei: Wu Nan publishing.
Yu, H.S. & Hau Y.K. (2003), Challenges in the Migration to 4G Mobile System, IEEE Communications magazine, 41, 54-59.
Wang, T.C. & Chen, Y.H. (2008), Applying fuzzy linguistic preference relations to the improvement of consistency of fuzzy AHP, Information Science, 178, 3755-3765.
Wang, Y.M., Liu. J. & Elhag T. (2007), An integrated AHP-DEA methodology for bridge risk assessment, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 54, 513-525.
Whitt (2004), A horizontal leap forward: Formulating a new communications public policy framework based on the network layers model, Federal Communications Law Journal; May 2004; 56, 3, pp.587-672.
Wieland, K. (2005), Profit in a low-ARPU climate, Telecommunications – International Edition, 39, 16-18.
Wu, I. (2004), Canada, South Korea, Netherlands and Sweden: Regulatory implications of the convergence of telecommunications, Telecommunications Policy, 28, 79 -96.
Wu, W.Y. (2005), Business Research Methods (Second ed.) , Taipei: Hwa-Tai publishing.
Zhao, I. & Chu, R.T. (2007), “Broadcasting policy under the convergence era”, available at : http://www.npf.org.tw/print-2348.html