UPC and Ziggo Launch App for OTT Mobile VoIP Communication

A recent post on the Broadband TV News website reports that UPC Nederland, a large cable operator in the Netherlands, has launched an app that makes calling via Wi-Fi possible at fixed telephony rates. The app has been released just a few days after the other major Dutch cable operator, Ziggo, launched its own over-the-top (OTT) voice and messaging application called Bapp.

Both applications provide customers with a number of interesting features. The main functionality allows users to be reached on their fixed phone number wherever they are, through their smartphone or tablet, via a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection. This feature works even when abroad.

Thanks to these new products, UPC and Ziggo’s clients are able to enjoy fixed line rates when they call from their mobile devices.  As the post explains, the apps also allow users to call all fixed and mobile numbers, which is normally not possible with most VoIP apps.

What’s more, customers can use a tablet (or even an iPod) without a SIM card to place inexpensive phone calls while on-the-go.

As UPC and Ziggo’s apps work with any Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection, customers will be able to access services virtually anywhere they travel. In addition, Ziggo customers can use over 1 million Ziggo Wi-Fi Spots activated and available at no extra cost, explains Ziggo’s VP of consumer products and innovation, Pieter Vervoort. UPC customers will have access to over 500,000 hot spots throughout the Netherlands.

Vervoort believes the app provides an important service to Ziggo’s customers because it caters to their need to be accessible. The new app allows subscribers to be reached on their landline phone number anytime throughout the day by friends, family and business contacts, no matter where they are. Customers will also have access to their home voicemails anywhere.

The fact that clients will be able to enjoy landline rates even abroad, with no additional roaming fees or charges, is the best feature offered by these innovative applications. However, as the post revealed, both apps are still offered on a test basis; at the moment, then, there is no guarantee that the service will continue. 

Ziggo is testing the application by inviting 3,000 customers to try it for free. The test started on 8 April and will last for two months; the results will determine if Ziggo will be made available to the general public in its current or in an adapted form. Also UPC is temporarily offering the app for free to a selected group of customers that volunteered for the test.