06 October 2006

T-Mobile USA is set to launch by year's end a new breed of mobile phones that can pass live phone calls between cellular and Wi-Fi networks, a top executive told The Associated Press on Friday.

Robert Dotson, chief executive of the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, declined to disclose the specific market where T-Mobile planned to introduce the technology, known as UMA or Unlicensed Mobile Access.

But he did say it would likely be "a city near and dear to our hearts," a likely reference to the company's home city of Seattle.