C&W to launch new workplace GSM service

Link: C&W to take on mobile giants with new workplace service – Independent Online Edition > Business News

Back in May last year, the UK telecoms regulator Ofcom announced the outcome of a spectrum auction, to ‘sell off’ the surplus GSM frequencies between allocated ranges for low power GSM network usage. 14 companies bid amounts between £50k and £1m for one of 12 licenses up for grabs. Cable & Wireless bagged one for the bargain price of £51,002, and have news has now leaked out about what they plan to do with it.

The company is to launch a service that will enable its business customers to make calls over a small mobile network within offices. Calls will then be routed over a normal fixed-line broadband internet network.

A spokeswoman for C&W confirmed that the company was “planning an FMC service” but declined to give a timetable for its launch. However, industry executives said that the service could be up and running within a few weeks, once the company finalises a roaming agreement with an unnamed national mobile operator, which would carry calls when the user is outside a corporate site.

One of the other 12 successful bidders is Mapesbury Communications, and we’ll be having a chat with their Managing Director Magnus Kelly later on in the week. Watch this space for the full interview!