Dixons ‘Freetalk’ makes BT slash international call charges |
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Published
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Wed, 28 Sep 2005 11:35
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LONDON: High street retailer Dixons Stores Group has launched a new internet telephone service called ‘Freetalk’ and claims it to be the cheapest on the market. The service allows users to make free calls to landlines in the UK for one whole year.
Unlike other similar services, here users do not need to switch on their computer. However, in order to set up the service users must have a computer. At signup, they will need to buy an adaptor worth £79.99 that links their existing phones to their broadband connection. Users will then be able to make unlimited free calls to landlines anywhere in the country for 12 months, after which they will have to pay £6.99 a month for the service.
Calls to mobiles will be charged at the rate of 5p per minute at weekends, 10p per minute on weekday evenings and 15p per minute on weekdays. International calls will also be charged as applicable.
Another feature of Freetalk is it allows the user to take the adaptor and his home telephone number with him anywhere in the UK without being charged a ‘roaming’ fee.
The technology employed by the service is the same as used by rival Vonage – Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The technology has overshadowed the traditional telephone system by providing cheaper calls over high speed broadband connections. The key attraction of the VoIP service is the prospect of significantly slashing consumer bills.
The DSG service could prove to be a big threat to BT which has its own Internet telephony service ‘BT Communicator’ combined with Yahoo Messenger. BT has however played it smart by not marketing the service aggressively as it would effectively mean cannibalizing its own voice call service.
Even so, DSG’s Freetalk could hurt BT’s business because of the retailer’s vast distribution base (1,000 stores) and direct access to a large number of customers. DSG hopes to sign up at least half a million subscribers over the next 12 months. BT has around 60,000 subscribers for its Communicator.
BT responded to the Freetaqlk launch by slashing its international call charges to 33 countries until the yearend.
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