T-Mobile-UK To VoIP- “My Aim Is Tru (phone)”

Taking a play on words from the old Elvis Costello song “My Aim Is True,” it seems T-Mobile UK is Aiming at Truphone, and potentially other VoIP providers with so called policy efforts that make it hard for people to connect one phone number to another if the carrier decides not to like the other operator. In a nutshell, client Truphone is having calls made to their number block, blocked by T-Mobile-UK. This puts the idea of an interconnected telephone exchange between operators a thing of the past and is about as logical as having airports for each airline versus all airlines use the same airports in my view. It also ends up making the telephone system obsolete because if a number issued by the numbering authority can’t be called it means in effect the people with them need a second number. That’s just silly.

In light of Jajah’s recent gift from T-Mobile parent company, one has to wonder, as Esme Vos writes, if the right hand knows what the left had is doing at DT? Or does that mean that with the investment from them that Jajah is the company behind such efforts to be the kings of mobile VoIP? I ask the question, but really doubt they would be so foolish as to try to monopolize the game as the backlash would be almost instantaneous in the VoIP world from so many who have applauded their efforts.

No, this means to me that we are seeing one more example of where the old guard is seeking to protect their turf and aiming to use every dirty trick in the book to keep their head counts and make their numbers. That is make their numbers work only to their own benefit.

Now compare this to the approach of French operator Orange who is seeing a very nice uptake of their Unik platform. Clearly Orange has had a nice taste with VoIP and is doing more than making it the flavor of the month and realizes that moving forward, not keeping things back, is the way to retain customers in light of looming competition.