BT ends con-Fusion with Bluephone launch

After months of speculation, BT has finally launched its all-in-one Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile device today. The gadget formerly known as 'project Bluephone' is now available and will be making its way into the homes of BT customers under the brand BT Fusion.

Fusion is aiming to be all services to all men: with one device, fusion customers can make mobile calls and fixed line calls, routed through a BT-provided and branded router and over a broadband connection.

According to BT, the router - or BT Hub - will also act as a wireless network for Fusion customers, and can support three 'Bluephones' simultaneously. Both the hub and the handset are free.

When out and about, mobile calls will be made over the GSM network and, BT claims, "seamlessly" handed over via Bluetooth to the fixed line when a user returns within range of the router.

BT Retail's CEO Ian Livingstone said the range will be some 25 metres within the home or 100 metres "without any walls". "Range doesn't seem to be an issue at all," he added.

Tariffs, however, do. While BT claims customers can save themselves eyebrow-raising figures by using Fusion compared to some other mobile bundles - up to 95 per cent on some off-peak calls - users will, however, incur mobile termination rates every time a GSM-IP handover is made; 0800 numbers will always incur costs even if made over the 'landline'; and the mobile minutes bundle of 100 inclusive minutes is regarded as a little stingy by some.

Carrie Pawsey, wireless analyst at research firm Ovum, said: "The problem is once you go outside the bundle. One hundred minutes isn't much and 30p per minute is a bit on the high side - it's even on the high side of pre-paid."

Pawsey added, however, that industry fears over the handset had not been realised. "We were pleasantly surprised on the handset... we had horror visions of them coming to market with a brick."

To start with, the service will launch with just one device - the Motorola V560 - although a Fusion-compatible Motorola RAZR phone will also be out this year, BT Retail's Livingstone promised.

The service will go live with 400 "early adopter" customers, with a full launch and customer push aimed at BT Retail's existing more than 1.5 million broadband customers, scheduled for this September.

Livingstone said he expected the growth curve for Fusion users to follow BT's broadband map. "We will take a steady ramp up just the same as we did with broadband. At the end of decade, there will be literally millions of devices out there," he said.

Michael Carroll, analyst at industry watcher Informa Telecoms and Media, predicted the service is likely to raise more interest with the telecoms industry than UK consumers at present.

"Initially, uptake will be slow - it will be a tough sell," he said. "There's a lot riding on them [BT]... It's a very hot topic at the moment - a lot of carriers and vendors are looking at what BT has done."