http://snipurl.com/kbwb
BT dials up free mobile phone calls service
By : Tony Glover - Technology Editor November 27, 2005
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, BT's 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. BT's 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.
BT's new service will combine its existing Openzone wi-fi hotspots with a
patchwork of new wi-max networks.
Heading BT's 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 Avanti-mobile, 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.
-------------------
Frank Keeney
Pasadena Networks, LLC
Antennas, Cables and Equipment:
http://www.wlanparts.com
