Mobile operator Orange will now feature Thomson’s Livephone, an IP DECT (News - Alert) phone with HD Sound, as part of its VoIP offering. Because the phone is wireless, it will allow Orange’s subscribers to benefit from using VoIP without having to be tethered to a fixed line.

According to the companies, this is the first product available to the residential market which features HD sound technology. The devices are currently available in all Orange's shops in France.

Orange wants to specifically target the new devices at VoIP users who are already equipped with the Livebox residential gateway, also developed by Thomson. The companies say that more than 4 million of these gateway units have already been deployed in Europe.

“HD Sound delivers superior voice quality both compared to regular PSTN and standard IP phone calls. Integrating this feature directly into the handset provided to Orange raises the bar for voice services across the board,” commented Bruno Fabre, vice president at Thomson’s Premises Systems. “We believe that in 2007, HD Sound will be implemented in 30 percent of the wireless VoIP devices dedicated to both the residential and enterprise markets.”

Today’s news follows Orange’s business solutions arm, Orange Business Services’ launch of Sat-Nav, a GPS navigation application for mobile devices—including smartphones and PDAs from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, BlackBerry (News - Alert) and Orange's own.

Sat-Nav from Orange is powered by Webraska and it carries maps and live traffic updates which are held on a central server and are downloadable from the Internet via WiFi (News - Alert), 3G, GPRS or the Orange EDGE network onto the mobile device.

Want to learn more about Wireless VoIP devices? Then be sure to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit her columnist page.