Telecoms service ‘convergence’ is a term that has been deployed in and around the sector for a number of years now, announced time and again as the next step for the industry.

In June 2005 BT launched its Fusion service, which now sports over 30,000 customers. With BT having done the groundwork in an immature market, mobile operator Orange has started another bandwagon rolling this month, announcing a significant move to incorporate a number of services into one package.

The announcement from its parent company France Telecom will see Orange and internet service provider Wanadoo and business services firms Equant and Etrali all brought together under the one Orange moniker.

According to Orange chief executive Sanjiv Ahuja, the resulting Orange Broadband and Orange Business Services will provide a ‘one-stop shop for business customers’, bringing billing for broadband, mobile and ‘landline’ calls via wireless VoIP into a single invoice.

Similarly bundled packages are expected from other providers in due course and with fierce competition to win market share in these emerging areas beginning already, even at the expense of ‘per user’ revenues, the market could see further aggressive moves in the sector – for instance, Vodafone followed the news from Orange by announcing a possible move into re-selling broadband in an effort to cater for consumers’ 'total communications needs'.

The effect of this on smaller companies providing B2B services has yet to be measured, but it’s likely to keep them all on their toes to say the very least.