UK Times Google Telephone Service

Taken from: https://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1454225,00.html

Google gears up for a free-phone challenge to BT
By Elizabeth Judge, Telecoms Correspondent

GOOGLE revolutionised the internet. Now it is hoping to do the same with our phones. The company behind the US-based internet search engine looks set to launch a free telephone service that links users via a broadband internet connection using a headset and home computer.

The technology that will enable Google to move in on the market has been around for some time. Software by the London-based company, Skype, has been downloaded nearly 54 million times around the world but no large telecommunication firms have properly exploited it.

BT, which connects seven out of ten British households, has developed its own internet-telephone service. However, the telephone giant, which has the most to lose if the new technology takes off, has been reluctant to promote it heavily.

Interesting, what do you all think?

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 23, 2005
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  January 24, 2005
  You may want to take a look at Alex's blog entry at http://weblogs.asp.net/alexbarn/archive/2005/01/24/359425.aspx. He mentions another article which seems to suggest this is based entirely on a Google job advertisement for a telecoms/networks engineer...
• Anonymous
  January 24, 2005
  James,
  
  Good pointer! I don't understand why the Times would print something without any confirmation from Google. I also don't know where they pulled the Skype reference out of a job posting article...
• Anonymous
  January 24, 2005
  Nicholas: Dialup used to be charged by the minute. Then that became flat rate. And so is broadband... though there are now some services that charge different amounts depending on the amount of bandwidth you use.