Skype to launch domestic calling plans
THE Internet phone service Skype is introducing new domestic calling plans for 24 countries and regions, plus Hong Kong, where users will pay a monthly subscription and a connection fee but no per-minute charges.
The monthly fees for the new Skype Pro plans have not yet been finalized, but they were expected to be set at less than 5 euros, or about US$6.50, an executive told The Associated Press yesterday.
The per-call connection fee for Skype Pro calls within a given country to a regular phone or mobile device within that same country will be 3.9 euro cents, or roughly 5 US cents, said Stefan Oberg, general manager for Skype Telecoms.
Skype calls are dialed over a high-speed Internet connection using either a personal computer, a cordless handset configured to communicate directly over a broadband modem, or certain cell phones with Wi-Fi capability. Each user can call other Skype users for free.
The new options were being launched a month after Skype, a subsidiary of eBay Inc, introduced a North American service offering unlimited calls within the United States and Canada with no connection or per-minute fees for about US$30 per year—or less than half as much as Skype Pro appears likely to cost.