Orange Monday plans to offer mobile phones that can also make VoIP calls over a home Wi-Fi router, joining a growing number of European network operators offering similar services.

The new service will be available to Orange customers who subscribe to both its GSM mobile phone network and its DSL broadband Internet access service. Using a special mobile phone costing from €99 ($125), they will be able to make unlimited calls from home, connecting via Wi-Fi to their Livebox DSL home router. When they are outdoors, calls will be carried over Orange's GSM network at the usual rates.

Orange first announced its plans for the service, cheekily branded Unik (for "unique"), on May 31, the day after its rival Neuf Cegetel announced a similar service called Twin.

Mobile phone networks determine who to bill for calls by accessing the SIM in the mobile phone. To charge for calls routed over Wi-Fi, Unik and Twin use a technology called Unlicensed Mobile Access to access the phone's SIM and authenticate the identity of the subscriber against a database held by the mobile phone network. Once the subscriber is identified, a VoIP call is established over the Wi-Fi and DSL connections and back to the public telephone network.

The Livebox can carry up to three simultaneous Wi-Fi calls, Orange said.

Although Orange also offers GSM and DSL services in the U.K., in May it said Unik would only be available in France.

Similar services combining GSM and Wi-Fi are available elsewhere in Europe, including BT Group's Fusion, launched in the U.K. last year, Deutsche Telekom's T-One, which opened in Germany in August, and TeliaSonera's service Home Free, now available in Denmark.

While Orange's service will require customers to subscribe to its own broadband and mobile services, other services are more open. Neuf Cegetel's offering is tied only to the company's broadband services: Customers can use any mobile network, while in Denmark, the Home Free service uses TeliaSonera's mobile network but will work over other operators' broadband connections.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.