According to Cellular-News.com, Brasil Telecom will begin offering two fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) services before the end of the year.

"BrT has begun by adding the Motorola V3 handset to its portfolio, a model which contains software allowing it to work as a local phone up to a certain range from its home site," the article states. "The GSM handset has integrated Wi-Fi capability and will be sold with broadband as well as voice over IP access."

"We identified that almost 30 to 50 percent of mobile phone calls to fixed lines are done within the home or the office," says Brasil Telecom's Ricardo Couto.

Within the next week, Brasil Telecom will begin working with a select client base in the Brasilia area. A second fixed-mobile convergence service will be added in the second half of 2006.