BT Dials Up Free Mobile Phone Calls Service
Posted on: Monday, 28 November 2005, 06:00 CST
By Tony Glover - Technology Editor
BT is to take on leading mobile phone operators such as Vodafone and O2 by enabling customers to make free calls on their mobiles.
The service has been under development at BT for the past 18 months. It will be available to customers owning smartphones, the latest devices made by companies such as Nokia and Motorola. The phones use software that routes calls free of charge through local area wireless connections to the internet.
BT is expected to announce details of the service before Christmas and it will available early next year. The calls will be free, but there will be a flat charge to use the network.
In recent years, BTs revenues from fixed-line operations have been hit hard by mobile operators such as Vodafone and O2, which charge high rates for calls, and by free phone services voice over internet protocol or Voip offered by firms such as Skype. BTs new free service aims to meet this challenge.
When contacted by The Business last week, BT said nothing, but the move is seen as inevitable. Vodafone management have been sleepwalking towards an abyss, said Keith Woolcock, an analyst at Westhall Capital, referring to the threat posed by consumers making free or low-cost phone
calls over wireless internet
(wi-fi) and wider radius wireless internet (wi-max) networks.
BTs new service will combine its existing Openzone
wi-fi hotspots with a patchwork of new wi-max networks.
Heading BTs development of the network is former wireless entrepreneur Ryan Jarvis, who sold his Megabeam Networks pan- European wireless internet (wi-fi) network to Swisscom in 2003 before being headhunted by BT.
This week, telecoms company OpenAir launches Avantimobile, a Skype-style service that allows smartphone users to make free calls from wi-fi hotspots in pubs, cafes and hotels. Samsung and Motorola are also to launch wi-max mobiles in the new year that will enable users to make free internet mobile calls when walking down the street in the way they now use the mobile operators high-tariff mobile networks.
Source: Sunday Business; London (UK)
Related Articles
- One Call Now Offers Notification Service at NO CHARGE for Governments, Schools, Businesses, Religious Organizations and Others in Response to Swine Flu Outbreak
- Salesforce.com Offers Free Edition of Mobile CRM Service
- New Discounted Verizon Bundles of Voice, TV, High Speed Internet and Wireless Services Now Available in Washington State
- Barablu Offers Free Calls From Mobiles
- Starting in December 2006, Philadelphia Began Its Proof of Concept Trials of Its Broadband Wireless Mesh Network - Municipal Wireless Mesh Networks for City-Wide Broadband Internet Coverage
- Verizon Combines Its Home and Verizon Wireless Services in Single Plan, Offering Convenience, Simplicity
- Ruckus Wireless Delivers MediaFlex NG, the First Managed Home Wireless Services Platform
- AirLink Mobile Partners With Brightstar to Support Launch of MVNO Wireless Service in U.S.
- GTC Telecom Reports Q2 Results; Focuses on Call Center and Wireless Service Offerings As Growth Drivers
- Softbank to Lease Cellphone Service Network to Other Firms
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds