telepoint

The term Telepoint refers to a system ofradio base stations through which the subscriber can communicate with the handset of his cordless telephone.

Such radio base stations are installed at certain locations within cities, for example at train stations, squaresand streets, and allow the subscriber to make telephone calls in the vicinity via such a station. In doing so, the subscriber can only initiate a call on his or her own initiative, but cannot be called.

A telepoint system should not be seen as competing with cellular mobile communications systems, since only outgoing calls are switched and telepoint stations are concentrated in metropolitan areas and do not have any area coverage.

Deutsche Telekom AG launched two Telepoint field trials in 1992 under the nameBirdie. Despite satisfactory results, Birdie was not adopted for regular operation.