T-Mobile USA has launched a new service targeted at fixed-line customers called ‘T-Mobile At Home’ that allows users to connect fixed-line handsets to a broadband connection. The service offers unlimited domestic calls for US$10 a month but is limited to mobile customers on a US$40 or higher monthly tariff. Users also need to buy a T-Mobile Internet router for US$50, which will connect existing fixed-line phones to the broadband network. T-Mobile USA already offers a service that allows Wi-Fi enabled handsets to be used within the home (known as ‘Hotspot At Home’) but the new service is targeted at customers who are reluctant to abandon their fixed-line phone. Unlike larger rivals such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile does not own fixed-line assets in the US so is unable to offer a traditional bundled fixed/mobile service. “Clearly there’s a big opportunity for us to give T-Mobile customers an incentive not to be on competitive landline service,” said T-Mobile USA’s chief executive, Robert Dotson, reports Associated Press. The operator has been testing the service in the Dallas and Seattle areas since February.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile UK announced this week that it has become the first mobile operator in the UK to offer a price guarantee, claiming to match any subsequent better offer from a rival network. The guarantee relates to its ‘Solo’ tariff, a SIM-only service on a 30-day rolling contract, and ‘Combi,’ an 18 month contract. Both tariffs cost £30 per month.