Telecoms.com

UK 5G coverage roughly doubled in 2021

Network analysis firm Global Wireless Solutions says that three of the four major operators have doubled their nationwide 5G coverage in the last year.

• 23 Dec 2021

Google launches stripped-down video calling app Duo for dodgy networks

Internet giant Google has launched a new video calling app called Duo that has been deliberately stripped down to allow it to be used even on even low-quality mobile networks.

• 16 Aug 2016

Skype introduces cross-platform video calling

Skype has upped its game in the mobile market, with the announcement of a “killer ability” that has long been waited for: cross platform video calling.

Users of Skype’s Android app will finally be able to make video calls, not only to other Android users but also to iPhones, laptops and PCs from their smartphones.

• 30 Jun 2011

Microsoft granted patent to ‘silently record’ web-based voice and video comms

Microsoft has been granted a patent for a technology that will allow it to listen in on web-based communications such as video and voice calls – including those made on its recently acquired Skype service.

• 29 Jun 2011

Microsoft’s Skype deal gets the go-ahead

Microsoft’s bid for Skype has received the go-ahead from American anti-trust regulators, following an “early termination” of a review into the proposed sale. Under America’s Hart-Scott-Rodinho (HSR) Act, certain types of large mergers and acquisitions deals must be submitted for review by the government.

• 21 Jun 2011

Google wants real-time comms in the browser

Google has announced the open sourcing of its WebRTC framework for real time browser-based video and audio communications. The technology, which Google acquired when it bought Global IP Solutions last year, has been released under a royalty-free BSD license.

• 02 Jun 2011

Fring takes iPhone video calling cellular

Apple set itself a real challenge with the iPhone 4, by making video calling – the great white elephant of 3G – one of the device’s main advertising points. And if FaceTime, as Apple rebranded it, isn’t crippled by history, it is certainly challenged by the fact that it only works over wifi. Until now that is, but it’s not Apple that has brought video calling to the cellular networks.

• 09 Jul 2010