Times have seldom been both so exciting and so terrifying for the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). With mobile networks taking on a staggering new degree of importance throughout much of the world, and many subsections therein, there have never been so many opportunities for success. Yet there have also never been so many opportunities to miss, or to fail. In a bid to help bolster MVNOs' chances at success, Centile (News - Alert) Telecom Applications, one of the biggest names in fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) and unified communications (UC) in Europe, has brought out a new product designed to help drive the next generation of services forward.

More specifically, Centile brought out the ISTRA?FMC router, an FMC value-added service (VAS) router designed to allow MVNOs to offer the latest in FMC services at the enterprise level, and thus take advantage of some of those new opportunities making a presence known in the field. With the ISTRA?FMC router, operators can be interconnected with Fixed VAS, Cloud PBX (News - Alert) or PBX Trunking service. While under previous circumstances, that meant that users couldn't provide a whole lot in the way of convergence features—mobile twinning, for example, was limited at best, and many services could only be offered for fixed-line calling—now have an array of new options to offer.

With the ISTRA?FMC router, PBX features can also be extended to mobile devices as well, meaning that tools like unique calling line identity, convergent voicemail and calls history, and even mobile phone status updates can be had, offering a variety of new uses from there. Indeed, early reports suggest that there's already one new user of the ISTRA?FMC router in play, Sisteer, a major European MVNE that plans to use it to offer up FMC services in a package known as the “Smart FMC Gateway (News - Alert)” set to start sometime this year, and reports say fairly soon.

Centile Telecom Applications' director general, Bertrand Pourcelot, offered up some comment on the new release, saying “We are delighted to launch a new FMC innovative product and that Sisteer, a leading European MVNE, has chosen our ISTRA? FMC router for their FMC offer. Our teams have been working hard together and with the MNO for the past 12 months to design and integrate the solution.  This reflects the growing and rapid demand for MVNOs to offer FMC services.”

Indeed, there is a growing demand for such services, as there is for many mobile services. The rise of tablets and smartphones, the rise of wearable technology, the rise of the Internet of Things...these all combine to demand a lot of mobile networks, and demand further services therein. That's an opportunity for MVNOs to rise up and step into the gap, giving users access to the desired services and some that may not have even been that familiar. But offering these services represents a greater chance at overall success, and a point that can't easily be passed up.