Daiwa EuroTelcoblog No. 28, Wednesday, 10th March, 2004 - NEWSFLASH! deltathree and Freeserve to launch SIP product in partnership (original email blast 1:55 PM Wednesday, 10th March, 2004)

Currently in the middle of the Deutsche Telekom conference call, but the press release has just arrived. International SIP service provider deltathree (DDDC US) and Freeserve are to launch a co-branded version of the iConnectHere service in the UK in Q2, targeting Freeserve customers. One example of the calling plans on offer is the North America 400 plan - 400 minutes to North America for GBP2.95 per month. This is particularly interesting, as we had perhaps naively assumed that the incumbents would follow the old adage "you shouldn't foul your own backyard" in dealing with the VoIP issue. Yet here is France Telecom effectively using SIP as a revenue expansion opportunity into an adjacent market. The timing of the announcement is also interesting, coming as it does one day ahead of a BT broadband strategy presentation, on a day when BT's share price is strongly bucking the negative trend in the sector today.