Hutchison moves on mobile Skype
double click | David Frith
FEBRUARY 21, 2006
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,18184194%5E15309%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

WE should be able to soon make low-cost, or even free, voice over
internet protocol calls from mobile phones.

IW Distribution has been working on a system that will let users of
many Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets make calls over the Skype VoIP
network.

Other big mobile telecommunications players are moving to make mobile
VoIP even more accessible.

The Hutchison group, which pioneered third-generation mobile services
here, signed a deal with Skype last week that paves the way for cheaper
VoIP calls on 3.

Trials are reportedly under way on Hutch's Swedish service and a launch
here later this year is tipped.

In the Swedish trial, Hutchison is offering users a Skype bundle with a
3G flat-rate subscription and a 3G data card. Users can make unlimited
Skype calls.

Why would Hutchison want users to make free or cheap calls on Skype,
when it makes good money, typically 25c flagfall and then 35c for every
30 seconds, from having customers place voice calls on 3?

But Hutch executives see the millions of Skype users in the world as a
great source of new subscribers who will ante up for very profitable 3
multimedia services.

Hutchison is now talking to phone manufacturers about building Skype
software directly into handsets.

In a separate move, Nokia and Motorola have unveiled mobile handsets
that switch between regular mobile connections and WiFi wireless
networks.

Users can make cut-price calls from home, the office or a public
hotspot and if they move out of range, the handset switches seamlessly
to the conventional cellular network and the full-priced mobile call
charge.

This system uses technology called Unlicenced Mobile Access and so far
no Australian carrier has announced plans to adopt it, but it's a fair
bet some will, if only to fend off the new competition from
Hutchison-Skype.

Mobile VoIP in some form is likely to be a feature of Telstra's planned
high-speed 3GSM-850 mobile service, announced by chief executive Sol
Trujillo in November and scheduled to begin later this year or early
next.

Telstra is spending $1 billion on this nationwide network, which will
replace its present code division multiple access service, widely used
in rural areas.

It will use technology known as High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
(3.5G).

HSDPA has a top download rate of about 700Kbps, putting it in broadband
territory, but much faster speeds are promised. Telstra has mentioned
eventual speeds of up to 14Mbps, which is fast enough not only for VoIP
calls and internet surfing, but movie downloads.

Telstra will be offering wireless modems and data cards for laptops as
well as mobile phone connections.