Vodafone

TruPhone Buys SIM4travel

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

VoIP operator TruPhone has bought roaming operator SIM4travel, planning to combine operations and provide travelers with low cost phone calls over cellular. TruPhone is paying around $2.64 million in cash and $2.56 million in stock to get SIM4travel's travel SIM capability and its' Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) platform. Other assets in the deal include SIM4travel's infrastructure, customer base, distribution, and staff in Portugal and London.

TruPhone has been providing free and local calls through the Internet and WiFi, supported through a VoIP client on Nokia N and E-Series phones. The deal now gives the company the ability to provide global mobile operator services. It also provides a consumer channel since SIM4travel sells SIM cards through Tesco, WHSmith, Carphone Warehouse and other stores.

From a regulatory standpoint, the purchase might make it easier for Truphone to claim to be a mobile operator and get mobile termination fees. T-Mobile and Truphone are in court, T-Mobile arguing that it doesn't have to pay such fees since a Truphone call routed over the Internet costs nothing to deliver.

For more:
- Truphone blog announcing acquisition of SIM4 Travel
- Register write-up of Truephone SIM4 Travel deal

WiFi phone sales leap 60% as support improves

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

It's funny what a little support can do for a product. Infonetics Research says WiFi phone sales increased more than 60 percent last year--682,000 units were sold worldwide--because vendors did more to support wireless VoIP.

"IP telephony has matured, and wireless LANs have also matured," says Infonetics analysts Richard Webb. "Companies started to build wireless LANs to put data on them, but now they are looking for other applications."

For more:
- Read the release from Infonetics Research

Related articles:
Vodafone swings behind VoIP
Mobile VoIP key for next-gen networks

Mobile Enterprise VoIP: Has its time finally come? Maybe, maybe not

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

Mobile VoIP in Europe just can't get any respect..at least not at the moment. While mobile enterprise is seeing a boom--to the tune of increased spending in the 21 percent range year over year--it hasn't yet filtered down to VoIP, says Forrester Research analyst Phil Sayer. "I don't think enterprise mobile VoIP is going anywhere at the moment."

While VoIP is elbowing its way into enterprise as legacy systems grow old and die, it's struggling, despite being pushed along by start-ups and the odd telcos. At the moment, it's a matter of economics--and a perceived lack of user friendliness. Mobile operators aren't putting packages of VoIP minutes together, Sayer says, "they're positively trying to make it go away. So there is no immediate benefit for the business user or purchasing folks to adopt it." Because VoIP generally needs a smartphone, the market is further restricted.

But mobile enterprise VoIP has potential, lots of it, especially as employees become less tied to their offices. VoIP operator Truphone--which recently hooked up with conference-calling specialist Iotum--says more than half of its subscribers in 149 countries use VoIP for enterprise.

Says Forrester's Sayer about the potential for growth: "Sooner or later the dam will burst."

For more:
- See the complete article in the Financial Times

Related articles:
Vodafone gets behind VoIP Report
T-Mobile CEO says wVoIP won't connect Report

Mobile VoIP changes the game

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Apple's announcement that it will allow WiFi VoIP on its iPhone is one of those big tech moments. With the imminent arrival of Google's Android platform and even industry conservatives like Verizon Wireless opening its platform for third party apps, no one wants to be left as the only platform/device not offering mobile VoIP. Just mix Skype's massive user base and tens of millions of open smart phones together and you quickly see the future.

And while the limitations of the 3G platform means VoIP will only be a WiFi game for the time being, the arrival of 4G is going to change that once and for all. In any case various bridging widgets such as those offered by Packet8 and Truphone will give users a viable and much cheaper "VoIP like" service. T-Mobile's new @home WiFi service and Vodafone's not dissimilar German play, suggests the carriers know the game is up for pure cellular and are already accepting that if you can't beat them, it's better to join them. Tom

VoIP developers fire up for iPhone

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

Steve Jobs' green light for third party apps for the iPhone--including WiFi based VoIP--is expected to see several voice widgets quickly come to market. U.K. provider Truphone had already released a demonstration model late last year. Over the weekend, they issued a careful statement acknowledging their interest and indicating they would be developing a fully fledged application. DSL Reports also wrote that video chat developer SightSpeed was working on a VoIP app, but that iPhone's camera placement was proving problematic.

The big question is what Skype is up to. The sheer popularity of the iPhone--and the chance to share in the $100 million developer fund Apple and its VC partners have put on the table--makes it an almost certainty Skype will move quickly to be part of the play. Certainly that is what the expectation is from the analysts who closely watch Skype. The combination of iPhone and Skype would definitely make the cellular industry worried--if they are not already. But while some see Apple's VoIP announcement as a game changer, others such as ZNet's Russell Shaw cautions that Vonage offered VoIP over WiFi and dropped it. True, but that was pre-iPhone and we have already seen enough evidence to suggest the iPhone is the breakthrough product for the internet moving to the wireless space.

For more:
- Apple iPhone SDK and developer fund Release
- SightSpeed works on iPhone VoIP app Article
- VoIP on iPhone a possibility Article
- Truphone a starter for iPhone VoIP Blog

Related articles:
Vodafone swings behind mobile VoIP Article
T-Mobile offers $10-a-month calling Article
FierceWireless is sponsoring The Path to 4G seminar at next month's CTIA trade-show

Vodafone swings behind VoIP

Tom Burton — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Vodafone Germany is launching a mobile VoIP service using WiFi that expands the reach of the cellular service indoors and removes international roaming fees. The converging of the WiFi and Cellular service makes Vodafone the first major carrier to embrace mobile VoIP in Europe. Vodafone is a 45 percent owner of Verizon Wireless and is the world's largest operator by turnover.

The move to use WiFi to expand the footprint of the service follows a similar announcement by German-owned T-Mobile to offer WiFi coverage in homes of their U.S. customers. T-Mobile customers can talk on this service to anyone in the U.S. for a very competitive $10 a month.

Cellular operators have been predicted to embrace mobile VoIP for several years. But the technology was largely resisted by operators because of concerns it would cannibalize their profitable cellular plays. The move by the industry leader to begin using VoIP represents a significant new development and comes as several start-ups have begun promoting new VoIP calling widgets for smartphones.

The current 3G networks are generally considered not ready to provide a quality VoIP service, but the transition to super-fast 4G networks is likely to herald a rapid switch to data-based calling. Most of the cellular players are looking to adopt LTE platforms with timing still up in the air, but around 2011. Sprint may move sooner and adopt WiMAX as its 4G platform.

For more:
Back to the future of mobile voice Article

Related articles:
T-Mobile gets endorsement Article
T-Mobile offers $10-a-month calling Article
FierceWireless is sponsoring The Path to 4G seminar at next month's CTIA trade-show