EE to allow customers to call over internet

BRITAIN’S biggest mobile network has begun testing phone calls over wireless internet in a bid to expand its coverage.

EE said it will launch the service in the autumn.

The scheme will let people in large blocks of flats or rural areas, who have no phone signal but access to the internet, to make phone calls.

And unlike other internet phone services such as Skype, the technology will let customers carry on phone calls when they move out of an area with the internet and into an area that has phone signal.

Technology boss Fotis Karonis said: ‘We’re confident this service can make a big difference to people in homes and large offices across the country, especially in the most rural areas, that don’t have mobile coverage.’

BT, which will launch its mobile offering later this year, will use similar technology to make its network work.

While BT (down 4.7p at 387.8p) has limited mobile signal, it has a vast number of ‘open WiFi’ areas around the country.