Wanadoo's Livebox a 'do-it-all' soln

LONDON - France Telecom's Wanadoo will start selling a computer router next month that gives home broadband users wireless Internet access and eventually voice calls and video-on-demand, it said on Monday.

At a press conference in London, Wanadoo introduced Livebox, an $150 computer router for home Internet broadband customers, the latest push to bring a "do-it-all" Internet-voice-entertainment box into the living room.

The device will enable multiple computer users within a 30-yard range of the box to access the Net at broadband speeds of 512 kilobits per second. Livebox will be sold in the United Kingdom and France starting next month, with Spain and the Netherlands to follow.

Wireless Internet access has become the latest rage for Internet users but so far customers have had to buy equipment from a third-party vendor and configure it themselves -- which has turned off all but the technologically adventurous. Wanadoo aims to get a jump on its main European rivals by providing a much easier, ready-to-run service in one box.

In the future, Livebox customers will be able to use the Internet to make phone calls utilizing voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and, eventually, download films that can be watched on a personal computer or television.

"This is designed with all the functionality in one box. It's a true wireless gateway," Eric Abensur, CEO of Wanadoo's UK unit, told Reuters.

Wanadoo's all-in-one-box solution may not necessarily jumpstart the market for consumer broadband wireless net access, commonly known as Wi-Fi, analysts said.

"Wi-Fi has been popular for executives on the run, but household uptake has been slow to take off in Western Europe," said Olivier Beauviellain, adding price has to fall further to make Wi-Fi a mass market service.

CASHING IN ON VoIP, VOD

The device is at the center of Wanadoo's strategy to offer its customers a range of computing, entertainment and communications services to boost average revenues per user.

Livebox was designed by France Telecom engineers with equipment supplied by French wireless gateway manufacturer, Inventel.

With the advent of offerings such as VoIP and video-on-demand (VOD) services, Internet service providers are aiming to compete more aggressively with incumbent fixed-line telecom companies and cable TV outfits.

In the United Kingdom, BT Group has made a big push into VoIP lately while cable providers such as Telewest has for the past few years offered customers cable TV, voice calls and broadband on one bill.

Abensur said that in the UK, Wanadoo would not be able to offer widespread VoIP and video-on-demand, plus super-fast connections of higher than 2 megabits per second, until BT opened the local exchanges to competitors for upgrading.

So, for now, he said Wanadoo would focus on playing up wireless broadband access in the United Kingdom.

The competition for wireless Net access has become a fierce turf battle of late with a variety of fixed-line and mobile carriers undercutting each other on price and launching new products to attract customers.

Last week, Vodafone Group Plc in Germany cut to one euro the price of a laptop card enabling users to access the Internet on its high-speed mobile network. On Monday, T-Mobile began selling laptop cards in Britain that offer wireless Net connections at 128 kilobits per second (KB). They eventually will be enhanced to allow 384 KB.






© Reuters