TMCnet News
'KDDI to offer Skype calls on smartphones'Oct 15, 2010 (DMASIA via COMTEX) -- Japanese operator KDDI is teaming up with Skype Technologies to enable its au mobile phone service subscribers to make Skype calls through smartphones, starting November, reports the Nikkei. KDDI will offer free or low-cost calls to other smartphones in Japan and abroad through Skype's VoIP software. The Skype application will be available when KDDI's IS03 smartphone and other models hit the market this fall and winter. As calls between Skype users are free, mobile phone companies have feared their revenue would decline should they make the service available. For that reason, the Skype application was viewed as verboten until now, according to KDDI senior vice president Takashi Tanaka. The firm will allow Skype calls between au subscribers to go through its network rather than the internet, which will put the quality of those calls on par with regular telephone conversations. It is still exploring whether to charge mobile fees on those calls. Even if the calls are free, KDDI expects a muted impact on revenue because it anticipates growth from smartphone data transmission fees. (Distributed for Digitalmediaasia.com via M2 Communications (www.m2.com)) |