BT to mesh with FON?
BT, the giant UK carrier, is on the verge of wrapping up a deal with the Spanish start-up FON, which will let BT customers make cheap calls on FON WiFi hotspots.
Reports about the talks surfaced here (and this story has good details), and a source close to FON tells VentureBeat the deal is near complete.
It is significant, because FON’s routers will give BT Fusion mobile customers a way to share access to their home WiFi networks. Then, in multiple areas of the UK, these customers can make near-free Internet calls, by using those networks. This may mean less revenue as calls leave BT’s network. But perhaps BT feels it doesn’t have any choice, as it continues to get undercut by cheaper competitors.
Under the deal, all new ADSL accounts will be FON access points, we’re told.
FON is backed by Google, Skype, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
