European wireless operator Orange commercially launched its push-to-talk Talk Now service on its U.K. network following nine months of customer trials across Europe. The carrier said the trials produced positive results with 58 percent of users declaring they would change their handsets to use the PTT service, while 67 percent said the offering was a “practical” tool.
The service, which uses Kodiak Networks’ Real-Time Exchange Systems platform similar to what U.S.-based operator Alltel Corp. uses for its Touch2Talk PTT offering, is currently available though Orange Business Solutions in the United Kingdom and will be made available later this year for small business and personal customers. Orange noted the service would be available as either a prepaid service or as part of a bundle with pricing similar to traditional voice calls.
The Talk Now service is scheduled to expand to Orange’s operations in France, Switzerland, the Caribbean, Romania, Slovakia, The Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, Belgium and Jordan during the next several months. The service will initially use the PalmOne Treo 600 handset that was used in the trials, though Orange said it has named Alcatel, LG, Nokia Corp. and Sagem as handset suppliers for the platform.
The commercial launch comes a day after Motorola Inc. announced it had deployed its Push-to-Talk over Cellular system for Georgian GSM operator MagtiCom.
