November 22, 2006

O2 Rejects Mobile-phone Wi-Fi

by Jan Harris

Mobile operator O2 has decided to support GSM and 3G mobile technology, rather than Wi-Fi in its next generation of phones. At a London summit in November, O2 rejected Wi-Fi hotzones and WiMax.

Dave Williams, O2’s chief technology officer said “We’ve played with UMA and SIP, but they would require new phones”.

At the summit, Mr Williams demonstrated an Ericsson-built GSM indoor base-station which would use the customer’s DSL to connect to the mobile network.

The box does not need UMA or SIP because it includes a reverse-engineered Sony Ericsson phone which connects to the phone network over the Internet.

The box has a slot to include a SIM card. O2 is considering distributing the box to customers in 2007 as the basis of a triple-play broadband service rolled out by O2’s recently acquired broadband division, Be.

O2 plans to deliver service only to unbundled exchanges, where it does not have to resell BT services. It has decided to delay the launch until it can reach 50 percent of the UK population from such exchanges.

O2 is also considering launching My Bluebook – a service to back up sentimental photos and texts to an O2 server.

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