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Hands0n
17th July 2007, 12:21 AM
Blimey! Has common sense returned to the UK? Is Britain just about to become Great again? Ok, so I may be overdoing it a little :D But this has got to be some of the best news. Now lets see Vodafone remove the crippling of the SIP client in the Nokia N95 for all the same reasons.

Ok - its only an injunction, but it is light at the end of the tunnel.



A court has stepped into a row between mobile phone network operator T-Mobile and wi-fi phone firm Truphone.

Truphone had accused T-Mobile of hindering its service, by blocking calls made to numbers owned by the fledgling mobile operator.

In the High Court on Monday Truphone was granted an injunction to force T-Mobile to put the calls through.

In court documents T-Mobile had said it had offered Truphone a deal to route its calls, but that had been rejected.

Court papers

The Truphone service works by routing calls via wi-fi when handsets are within range of wireless hotspots the phone can connect to.

By using the wi-fi and the net Truphone hopes to cut mobile call costs, particularly those made to long distance numbers.

In its court documents, Truphone said T-Mobile was "abusing its dominant position" by not putting its numbers through.

Deputy High Court judge Robin Knowles QC granted an injunction requiring T-Mobile to activate the Truphone numbers.

He granted the injunction until the two companies can either agree terms together, or have the courts decide how the matter should be resolved.


Article Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6901945.stm

solo12002
17th July 2007, 08:23 AM
Blimey! Has common sense returned to the UK? Is Britain just about to become Great again? Ok, so I may be overdoing it a little :D But this has got to be some of the best news. Now lets see Vodafone remove the crippling of the SIP client in the Nokia N95 for all the same reasons.

Ok - its only an injunction, but it is light at the end of the tunnel.

And I hate the wording that Truphone is using in that it HOPES? to cut mobile call costs. I would HOPE the word they used would of been WILL!

Ben
17th July 2007, 09:09 AM
Wow, that was swift. Good for Truphone :D Even though it's only an injunction it should add to Truphone's bargaining power and send a clear signal to the other networks that simply blocking applications you don't like from your network isn't an option.

Hands0n
17th July 2007, 10:49 PM
I'm staggered that, given the EU's mantra of promoting competition, that T-Mobile even tried that on. Further that the likes of Vodafone think they can get away with crippling features on expensive handsets just to prevent competition against their own network!

I wonder if Vivianne Reding could be persuaded to hand out a few more slaps :)