VOIP to Cut Cell Phone Rates

Although I don't have a cell phone, I found the following article interesting:

New firm uses VOIP to cut cell phone rates

Fri Aug 24 2007
By Geoff Kirbyson

A Vancouver-based next generation mobile company is hoping to carve out a niche in the long distance cellular market by offering voice over Internet protocol calls for just pennies a minute.

Bill Tam, CEO of EQO, which is pronounced "echo", said it developed its technology because long distance charges on mobile devices are still sky-high compared to those on land lines.

EQO's service, which was launched across the country Thursday, charges 2.6 cents per minute for long distance calls in Canada and to 30 other countries. It also offers free instant messaging using a number of different platforms, including MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber.

In order to use EQO, users have to go to the company's website, download its application to their wireless device and click on an EQO icon when making a long distance call.

"Consumers already have cell phones," said Tam. "We said, 'let's do it in software so they don't have to buy another piece of equipment.'"

Eamon Hoey, a Toronto-based telecommunications analyst, said EQO is playing in the same space as Yak Communications and Gold Line.