Full quad-play bundling will be slow to take off in Asia-Pacific and the ‘real action’ around bundling strategies will be in fixed services for the foreseeable future, said market research firm Ovum. Fixed services like voice, broadband and video content are typically a household purchase, while mobile services are typically a personal purchase and are most effectively marketed as a separate service, David Kennedy, Ovum’s Research Director said, “There is still a cleavage between household buying and personal buying”. The trend has also manifested at the organizational level with fixed and mobile businesses still managed separately by many regional operators. The move to customer-focused structures has been slower than in advanced markets like Europe.” Apart from the split between fixed and mobile marketing, Ovum also sees differences between advanced and emerging economies in the region. The most common strategic driver in advanced Asia-Pacific markets for offering service bundles has been customer retention. Fixed operator strategy has been to retain voice customers, and upsell broadband and content to them. Fixed-to-mobile substitution (FMS) remains a threat and has led to a prevalence of fixed dual- and triple-play bundling, a strategy common amongst incumbents in advanced markets. In emerging markets, broadband and content markets are immature but fast growing, and bundling has yet to be important. In addition, bundling in Asia-Pacific was also found to center on fixed telephony rather than broadband, especially offered by incumbents. “Overall, bundling is less common and intense in Asia-Pacific than it is in Europe, due to lower competitive pressure from resale and cable-based rivals. Regulatory restrictions on bundling are still important, especially in some advanced markets”, added Kennedy. The ‘next big thing’ in bundling may be the digital home gateway. Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) may overcome the split between fixed and mobile. SingTel’s mio generation package is such an example.