An Australian joint venture that launched a service last week to allow telephone subscribers with tone dial handsets to place long-distance voice calls through the Internet, is negotiating with Internet service providers (ISPs) for an international launch of the revolutionary service.
OzEmail Phone employs technology developed by two Melbourne electronics firms and is being commercialised through Australia's dominant ISP, OzEmail - which became the first Australian hi-tech firm to list on the US Nasdaq market in May last year.
Michael Ward, a marketing spokesman for OzEmail, told the South China Morning Post that OzEmail Phone calls would not originate outside Australia until international partners in the Internet communications field were signed up. He said regulatory issues had to be resolved.
'Technically from the States [we can run the service], but we are not permitted to originate calls there at this stage,' Mr Ward said.
OzEmail is seeking affiliate ISPs throughout the world to deploy the technology for both call termination and origination.
OzEmail will also provide a back-office service, managing a settlement exchange to distribute funds for handling calls routed through affiliates.