In telecommunications, quadruple play is a marketing term combining the triple play

Triple play (telecommunications)

In telecommunications, triple play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of two bandwidth-intensive services, high-speed Internet access and television, and a less bandwidth-demanding service, telephone, over a single broadband connection. Triple play focuses on a combined business...

 service of broadband Internet access

Broadband Internet access

Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....

, television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

 with wireless

Wireless

Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

 service provisions. This service set is also sometimes humorously referred to as "The Fantastic Four".

"Mobile service provisions" refers in part to the ability of subscribers to purchase mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 like services, as is often seen in co-marketing efforts between provider

Service provider

A service provider is an entity that provides services to other entities. Usually, this refers to a business that provides subscription or web service to other businesses or individuals. Examples of these services include Internet access, Mobile phone operators, and web application hosting...

s of land-line services. It also reflects an ambition of wireless access to all of the above, including voice, internet, and content/video while on the go and without tethering to the network via cables.

Given advancements in WiMAX

WiMAX

WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...

 and other technologies, the ability to transfer information over a wireless link at combinations of speeds, distances and non line of sight

Non-line-of-sight propagation

Non-line-of-sight or near-line-of-sight is a term used to describe radio transmission across a path that is partially obstructed, usually by a physical object in the innermost Fresnel zone....

 conditions is rapidly improving. It is possible that one could never need to be wired to get any communication service, even at home.

Besides the long awaited broadband convergence

Technological convergence

Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks. Convergence can refer to previously separate technologies such as voice , data , and video that now share resources and interact with each other synergistically.The rise of...

, quadruple play is also about the players involved. Many of them, from the largest global service providers to whom we connect today via wires and cables, to the smallest startup service providers, are interested.

In the UK, the merging of NTL

NTL Ireland

NTL Communications Limited was a cable television and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service company in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2005 it was owned by Liberty Global Europe , having been divested by NTL...

 and Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile is a brand used by many mobile phone service providers across the globe; its headquarters are based in the United Kingdom. Virgin Mobile has local operations in Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Greece, United Kingdom and the United States. It briefly also had operations...

 has resulted in Virgin Media

Virgin Media

Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

 offering a quadruple play of cable television, broadband internet and home and mobile telephone.

See also

• Dual play
• Triple play
  Triple play (telecommunications)
  In telecommunications, triple play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of two bandwidth-intensive services, high-speed Internet access and television, and a less bandwidth-demanding service, telephone, over a single broadband connection. Triple play focuses on a combined business...
  
  
• Fixed Mobile Convergence