O2 trials VOIP over WiFi

voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) service, which it may roll out as a commercial product next year, ZDNet reports.

The service, called O2 Connect, allows iPhone and Android handset owners to call landlines and mobile phones for free over a WiFi network.

For now, the invite-only service relies on the user downloading the Connect app, and finding a WiFi hotspot. O2 indicates it could eventually make the Connect app available to smartphone users who subscribe to rival networks.

CloudPro says the initial trial, set to start this month, will only be available to a limited number of customers. Although VOIP is normally viewed as an enterprise service, consumers will be asked to get involved with the trial, too.

Richard Porter, head of consumer mobile products at O2, says the telco hopes to introduce O2 Connect commercially in 2012.

Porter says in a Total Telecom report that, at this point, there are "no detailed plans" to extend the service to feature phones, other operating systems, or to enable VOIP calls over a 3G network.

O2 Connect uses a customer's current mobile phone number, and is intended as an alternative method of communication when there is no available mobile signal.