NEWS: Are carriers learning to love dual-mode?

<http://www.theregister.com/2006/11/17/nuvoiz_vowifi/>

Mobile networks are at last yielding to the lure of dual-mode phones
and voice over Wi-Fi, as flat-rate tariffs
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11...ternet_launch/) turn the
business of delivering a call into a cost instead of a revenue.

That's the claim of Chong-Jin Koh, the head of Nuvoiz, a wireless
VoIP start-up. He said that, after years of jealously guarding their
voice revenues, some carriers have now realised that as average
revenue per user (ARPU) moves to a flat rate, it's cheaper to offload
call delivery onto Wi-Fi.

"Dual-mode phones will explode over the next five years," he said.
"Skype and others are going mobile too, though they're mainly
targeting consumers."

The dual-mode approach is especially interesting for mobile carriers
which also have Wi-Fi networks. An early Nuvoiz customer is Yozan,
which Koh said operates the largest Wi-Fi/WiMax network in Japan, and
he added that Orange and Telia-Sonera - both of which have extensive
hotspot networks - also have plans for dual-mode.

The main target though is enterprise users - they already have
wireless LANs in place, and they want to cut their call costs, Koh
said.

...

.... Some carriers will therefore look for VoIP routes
that are compatible with today's handsets, hence O2's plan to put GSM
nanocells into home broadband routers
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11...tegy_meeting/).

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