BT mulling return to mobile

UK incumbent telco BT is understood to be planning a return to the mobile space.

The carrier offloaded its own mobile network, Cellnet (now known as O2), back in 2001, but has made its wireless designs known in recent years.

In 2005, BT introduced Fusion, an FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) service under an MVNO partnership with Vodafone, but the offering has failed to attract a sizeable subscriber base.

According to industry watchers, the carrier has been in discussion with 3UK and T-Mobile UK, which operate a joint 3G access network in the UK under a joint partnership.

It is thought that BT will strike a deal to offer 3G services, maybe mobile broadband, over this jointly-owned network.

“Where there is smoke there is fire,” said Michael Kovacocy, European telecoms analyst and sector strategist at Daiwa Securities. “We are already expecting an aggressive entry by BT into the consumer mobile broadband market shortly. Getting serious about mobile – at a time when mobile operators look increasingly likely to open up their networks in order to drive incremental revenue in a mature market, future-proof against adverse regulatory trends and perhaps most importantly of all strip costs out of their core network and delivery system by integration of fixed and mobile assets – looks like a good move by BT,” he said.