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Andy Abramson dropped me an email today pointing out what T-Mobile, one of the major UK operators, is doing against the mobile VoIP player Truphone.

Here are the main points that caught my attention:

* T-Mobile has refused to interconnect with mobile VoIP provider Truphone: T-Mobile customers making a call to Truphone’s number range (07978 8xxxxx) will not be connected.

* T-Mobile refuses to interconnect with operators offering VoIP as a matter of policy.

* However T-Online Ventures, the venture capital arm of T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom, has just invested in VoIP provider Jajah; T-Mobile connects with BT Fusion, a VoIP service; and T-Mobile has also announced a trial of a VoIP service in USA and Germany.

* T-Mobile is required to ‘make calls or otherwise transmit electronic communications to every normal telephone number’, which it has refused to do in the case of Truphone and other VoIP operators.

* The other four UK major mobile network operators - 3, O2, Orange and Vodafone - all interconnect with Truphone, leaving T-Mobile isolated on this issue.

* T-Mobile’s current adverts display the slogan “Setting the internet free”.

* Currently a ‘beta’ service, Truphone’s is prevented from launching fully until the 07978 8xxxxx number range is fully interconnected. Beta service customers are presently unaffected by this issue.

* Other mobile operators have employed different methods to prevent VoIP uptake. There has already been the well-publicized removal of internet telephony functionality from Nokia’s popular N95 handset by Vodafone and Orange, and new data tariffs published by Vodafone that mean customers using VoIP will be charged more than for web browsing or email.

I call this a real shame. I call it snubbing. I call it illegal. T-Mobile didn’t get it and it is acting like an old-fashioned operator that want to protect their walled garden without opening their doors to innovative services like Truphone or others.

No, seriously, does anyone believe that it’s just a “matter of policy“?

andy abramson, luca filigheddu, mobile voip, t-mobile, truphone