TORONTO – Canadian mobile phone users will soon be able to make video calls across competing mobile networks after Rogers, Bell and Telus announced the completion of two-way mobile video calling trials.
Mobile video calling is currently available through several carriers in Canada, but both callers must be on the same carrier’s network using compatible handsets. When inter-carrier mobile video calling is launched video calling will be possible across multiple carrier networks and will create North America’s largest two-way mobile video calling community, say the companies.
"We are proud to be part of the first inter-carrier partnership in North America to enable clients to call each other using video capabilities," said Stephen Howe, chief technology officer for Bell Mobility in the press release. "By breaking down the barriers between video calling clients in Canada, we anticipate strong demand for the service – as we saw with past inter-carrier initiatives such as text and picture messaging."
"The trial uses inter-carrier mobile video calling to take video communications to the next level, creating a much larger video-calling community, and providing customers with greater flexibility and freedom in the way they communicate," said Upinder Saini, vice-president of new product development at Rogers Communications.
Bell, Rogers and Telus each offer video calling handsets that support the internationally accepted open 3G-324M video telephony standard, ensuring compatibility with other systems and carriers supporting the standard.
