TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Skype Begins Charging For Calls


Skype Begins Charging For Calls


Reuters News Wire (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:42:19 -0600

Internet telephone service Skype said on Wednesday that it would
charge customers $29.95 a year for unlimited calling in the United
States and Canada, a service it had offered free since May.

eBay Inc.'s Skype, which competes with traditional phone companies and
Web operators like Vonage Holdings Corp. for customers, said
subscribers who sign up for the plan before January 31 will get the
service for half price.

The service covers calls to mobile phones or traditional wire line
phones from computers or from a new category of Internet-connected
phones that run Skype software.

Skype had been offering the computer-to-phone call service free since
May as a promotion aimed at winning new customers.

Customers who do not want to pay a subscription could also opt to pay
for calls at the rate of 2.1 cents a minute which it charged before
the promotion.

Skype calls from computer to computer would still be free for its
customers. The company said it would consider extending the service
for international calls.

"We'll be taking a close look at how this plan does and keep our
options open to see what our customers want on a more International
scale," said Skype spokeswoman Jennifer Caukin.

Skype said it had more than 136 million registered users globally at
the end of September.

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.

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