IP telephony may get a boost from wireless chipmaker CSR, which said it can slash the cost of producing Wi-Fi handsets for both residential and business use.

CSR's UniVox is a reference handset for voice-over-Wi-Fi that costs under $20 (£11) to build, according to the firm, compared with a typical figure of $200 (£110) for current designs. The company aims to license the design to handset makers and said it expects to see broadband operators offer end-products to customers some time in the second half of 2007.

Simon Finch, vice-president of CSR's Wi-Fi business unit, said there was demand from both consumers and enterprises for VoIP phones that are untethered from the desktop PC. "But it has to be cheap and cheerful, like Dect phones," he said.

UniVox is based on CSR's UniFi tri-band Wi-Fi chip designed for low-power embedded applications. It offers up to 20 hours of talk time and supports both SIP and IAX2 VoIP protocols, plus WEP, WPA and 802.11i security.

CSR said UniVox is a complete solution including hardware design and software stack, which handset makers can customise as necessary. The company said it also has a dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handset design in the pipeline.