BT have finally launched ‘Bluephone’. The service, called BT Fusion, uses a specially-equipped mobile phone to access BT’s fixed-line network when making calls at home or in the office. On the move the hybrid service will connect to Vodafone’s wireless network.

BT hopes that the service will counter both mobile networks and upstarts offering cheap internet telephony. The company said BT Fusion would combine the convenience of a mobile phone with lower fixed-line prices.

Customers subscribing to BT Fusion will receive a clamshell Motorola v560 mobile handset. An access point installed in the home, called a BT Hub, will switch the mobile phone to a broadband line using Bluetooth wireless technology. The hub also works as a wireless router, providing users access to PCs, laptops and games consoles wirelessly around the home.

The UK’s dominant fixed-line telecoms provider said BT Fusion would enable customers to make calls to UK landlines at its off-peak landline rate of 5.5 pence for up to an hour, and 3p a minute at peak hours.

The service will be trialled on 400 users before being more fully rolled out in September. BT Fusion will be offered in two price plans of £9.99 and £14.99 a month.

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