Mobile phone companies may not charge for voice calls when they launch third-generation (3G) networks providing advanced Internet services starting this year, telecoms executives said.
Offering free voice calls to encourage take-up of 3G would be a good idea , said Ralf Ohlhasen, a British Telecommunications Plc executive working on Europe's first 3G network, on Britain's Isle of Man.
It is one of the first indications of how the industry might charge for the new service, which will offer videoconferencing, high-speed Web surfing and music and video downloads.
Operators need to encourage a wide take up of 3G to recoup the more than 100 billion euros ($87.64 billion) they have spent on licences. BT is using the Isle of Man, off the northwest coast of England, to experiement with 3G technology and pricing ahead of its launch in Spain this year and elsewhere in Europe from 2002.
Free calls may be conditional on users agreeing to receive advertisments on their handsets and allowing the operator to track their position via the phones.
Mobile operators are considering what incentive they will have to offer 3G users to persuade them to opt-in to advertising, said Svante Stenbom of Siemens AG, which is developing 3G services.
Free voice calls were one possibility, said Stenbom, Siemens' UK head of mobile networks.
Location-based information will be a key feature of 3G, and a powerful marketing tool for the operators. In theory, an operator could tell which supermarket a customer uses and sell that information to a rival.