French operator to offer roaming Wi-Fi telephony

In a move that could be replicated elsewhere, French telecommunications operator Iliad will soon allow its subscribers to make free wireless VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls over their own and other people’s phone lines.

Iliad’s broadband subsidiary, Free, introduced an upgraded modem, the Freebox HD, on Thursday, adding a high-speed Wi-Fi connection, support for HDTV (high-definition television) delivered over an IP connection and the ability to make Wi-Fi phone calls with an appropriate handset.

The Freebox HD is only available to Free customers in France. However, in the competitive market for ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) services in France, operators race to match one another feature for feature. And with France Télécom also offering broadband Internet access in the U.K. and Spain, it may not be that long before customers in other countries see something similar.

Free offers a bundle of services including Internet access at up to 24Mbps over ADSL for a fixed fee of €29.99 ($37) a month, including rental of the Freebox. The bundle also includes access to over 200 digital TV channels, and unlimited phone calls to fixed-line numbers in France and other countries including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy, the U.S., and China.

Customers choosing Free’s “unbundled” option don’t have to pay a fixed-line subscription to the historic fixed-line operator, France Télécom. France Télécom’s broadband customers, on the other hand, pay €44.90, in addition to the fee for regular telephone service, for a similar bundle of features.

Free’s new modem comes in two boxes: one that plugs into the phone socket, and the other that connects to the TV. They communicate with one another either via Ethernet or their built-in Wi-Fi MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) link. The main box has a USB port and five Ethernet ports for connecting multiple computers, and a socket for connecting a regular fixed-line telephone (used to make VoIP calls). The TV box has decoders for HD and regular television signals, a digital terrestrial TV tuner, a digital audio output and Scart, S-Video, and HDMI video outputs.

As the new Freebox appears in more homes, Free plans to use it to offer a new service to its customers: the ability to make wireless VoIP calls outside their own home, anywhere they can capture the signal of another Freebox, for a one-off sign-up fee of €9.99. For now, customers will have to find their own Wi-Fi handset, but Free plans to introduce a dual-mode handset combining Wi-Fi and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) for around €200 in September, it said. The company did not say which of France’s three GSM operators will provide the cellular component of the service.

U.K. telecommunications operator BT Group introduced a service last year allowing users of one mobile phone model to make calls either over the cellular network or via a wireless link to their home ADSL modem. BT’s service, though, uses Bluetooth for the wireless link, and charges for the calls.