BT and Dolby Laboratories today announced the availability in  Africa of BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice and the innovative Dolby Conference Phone. BT’s African customers will also benefit from the integration of the service with Cisco WebEx  and Microsoft Lync. BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice combines Dolby's 50 years of audio expertise with BT's world-class communications capabilities to deliver exceptionally clear, natural and productive meetings.

 BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice transforms conference calls by delivering an “in-person” experience. The users get stunning audio quality, free from background noise. They also hear each person from a distinct virtual location so it is easy to identify who is speaking and to hear everyone on the call — even those with soft voices. Conversation flows more naturally and everyone can contribute better.

BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice can also offer significant cost savings over traditional audio conferencing services. Because users can join conference calls over data networks, the service helps lower transport and access fees.

BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice can be accessed anywhere — via the desktop, from mobile devices and in meeting rooms using the Dolby Conference Phone. Packed with innovation, it is the only phone that extends the complete Dolby Voice experience and productivity to meeting rooms. It provides outstanding audio clarity and the ability to not only pick up all the voices in the room but also to separate and clearly present them to remote participants. In addition to being an endpoint for the BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice service, the phone can be used for traditional IP telephony calls. The Dolby Conference Phone is now available worldwide.

“The Dolby Conference Phone revolutionizes the way people communicate and collaborate,” said Andrew Border, Vice President, Communications Business Group, Dolby Laboratories. “Because everyone hears clearly and feels like they are in the same room, participation increases and calls are more effective.”

Oliver Fortuin, managing director, BT in Sub Saharan Africa, said: “Audio quality has a tremendous effect on the productivity of meetings. With BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice now integrated with BT One Collaborate for Cisco WebEx and BT One for Microsoft Lync, end users will gain substantial new benefits from the industry’s most popular collaboration platforms. We are proud to announce today that customers across Africa are now able to enjoy the full benefits of this great technology.”

The integration of the service with BT One Collaborate for Cisco WebEx lets users enjoy the full WebEx functionality while benefitting from the clearer, more natural and effective BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice experience. BT One Collaborate users can now initiate and manage BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice audio conferences directly from the WebEx interface. This can be done from a traditional PSTN environment or from an IP connection.

The integration with BT One for Microsoft Lync provides the flexibility for participants to join their Lync meetings from the Lync client or from a BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice client and the Dolby Conference Phone. Users benefit from the in-person audio experience of BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice and from simple access for internal and external meeting participants. All Lync features are available to users who join from the Lync client. 

BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice and the Dolby Conference Phone are already available in Asia, Australia, throughout Europe and the United States. Using IP connectivity, the service is more cost effective than traditional conferencing services.