By Anne Morris, Total Telecom

November 29, 2006

Start-up to take VoIP to the mobile phone through WiFi; outlines alternative call handover plan.

Skype may well have become synonymous with peer-to-peer voice-over-IP services in the PC world, but one U.K.-based start-up is hoping to pip the eBay-owned company to the post when it comes to mobile VoIP.

Indeed many believe Skype has been slow off the mark when it comes to mobilising its VoIP application, other than forming an agreement with Hutchison's 3 recently.

"We tried not to be 'Skype again'," commented barablu CEO and founder Pascal Isbell in an interview with Total Telecom on Wednesday.

Isbell said barablu's goal is to provide "next-generation VoIP" that takes the functionality of IP voice from the PC to a WiFi-enabled mobile handset. The company also plans to be able to offer a number of other services based on "presence" technology, such as instant messaging.

And barablu is further claiming to have developed a solution that would enable a relatively seamless handover when a user initiates a call in a WiFi hotspot and then moves into the wider cellular network.

barablu already offers a PC download VoIP application and said the number of downloads has reached the "seven-digit" mark, although Isbell could not be more specific about download or user numbers at present. Like Skype, the software downloads are free, but barablu makes its money from fee-based services such as "barablu Out " and My Number.

In addition, Isbell said barablu is building a community that will be "monetisable" through advertising opportunities plus the ability to "graft on" more value-added services.

The company's next step will be to drive uptake of its PC-based services, expand the user community, and then introduce downloadable "diallers" to enable the use of VoIP on handsets.

barablu is in the process of developing a number of diallers for the different mobile phone platforms, with an initial focus on Symbian-based phones. The company will also support handsets based on Windows Mobile, although mobile Linux is not supported as yet.

"We have to do different diallers for different phones," commented Isbell. "We will do diallers for all the big WiFi handset vendors such as Motorola and Nokia."

To be able to use the barablu mobile VoIP service users would first need a WiFi-enabled handset, which at present are thin on the ground and also tend to be more expensive than pure cellular handsets. But Isbell sees this situation changing:

"What is currently a trickle will become a flood," said Isbell, who added that WiFi hotspot networks also continue to proliferate across the globe.

The company is further hoping to sign deals with some of the larger operators in time.

"I think a lot of the mobile operators will end up doing deals with us, or with someone like us," commented Isbell, adding that the company is in ongoing talks with operators that own WiFi hotspot networks.

But one aspect of barablu's plans could present an unwelcome alternative to operator-led strategies to enable call handover from WiFi to cellular networks.

According to barablu CTO Andoko Wicaksono, there are alternatives to the operator-led IMS/UMA strategies that would enable IP/cellular convergence without any operator involvement.

barablu said it has been developing proprietary technology whereby an intelligent dialler in the handset would be able to detect when a using is moving from a WiFi hotspot. The user's call would then be switched to the cellular network without the call being dropped.

This solution is not yet commercially available, and Isbell made it clear that before it is launched the company has to be confident the solution would be something that people will want.

But the first challenge for barablu will be to get its mobile VoIP plans under way before Skype does the same: "We're steps ahead of them," claimed Isbell.

http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=88078&t=2&F=1