Telefónica launches mobile VoIP in Europe

Spain-based carrier Telefonica has revealed plans to introduce mobile internet telephony services, following the acquisition of VoIP startup Jajah.

Telefónica will rollout of IP-based phone services across its O2 businesses in Europe, starting with Germany, where the company is launching a web-based international calling service – ‘O2 Global Friends’ – offering low cost international calls via a local number, without the need for new software or hardware.

Matthew Key, chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe, said in the coming months the company will rollout further Jajah-powered products across Telefónica territories, “To meet the growing demand for these new services.”

Charlotte Patrick, principal analyst at Gartner, said the move to introduce an IP-based calling service by a mainstream carrier shows the maturity of this market and is expected to be replicated by other telcos. “Telefónica’s purchase of Jajah has given it some really interesting long distance calling propositions and their impact on the market should give us an insight into carrier’s future strategy in this area.”

In related news, and something we don’t hear about very often these days, Telefónica O2 Czech Republic is upgrading its 2G GSM network to support EDGE in the cities of Prague and Brno.

O2 has tapped Nokia Siemens Networks to supply the upgrade, which it has revealed is being implemented to meet demands from smartphone subscribers and data users.

O2 Czech Republic is quite an interesting operator as it has a plethora of technologies from fixed line, through to GSM, CDMA and UMTS.