Barriers to Skype on Mobiles Evaporate
September 9th, 2010 | by Mobile Data Group |New Skype apps for the iPhone and Symbian platforms will allow mobile users to bypass telco voice networks completely, making calls using the internet over the 3G data network.
Skype apps for mobiles have so far been limited in that they could only make calls when the user is in a WiFi hotspot, but now the dominant internet telephony company is releasing apps that enable the Skype Out functionality over 3G.
This means that cheap international and local calls can be made from wherever there is 3G coverage, without the user having to use the mobile operators’ voice networks at all, Skype’s vice-president and general manager of mobile, Russ Shaw, said in an interview.
But after seeing Skype as a threat for years, telcos are now beginning to partner with the company.
This week Verizon and Skype announced that Verizon customers with 3G data plans could from March make unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls and call international numbers at Skype Out rates.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Shaw said Australians with Symbian-based phones - such as many devices in Nokia’s range - could get similar functionality by downloading a new Skype app that was added to the company’s website this week.
In the near future, Skype will release a new app that brings the Skype Out calling over 3G feature to iPhones. Shaw said versions for BlackBerry and Android phones would eventually follow.