The news over last fortnight made me speculate that Skype is going to be a mobile service provider. I mean Mobile over VoIP, altogether a different proposition for the VoIP giant. The service will be available in UK very soon, most probably by the end of next month. Skype has teamed up with the recognized mobile operator Three to provide the service.
We have reported here Skype-Three agreement on Skype Handset. The partnership now moves beyond that. They are now planning to offer free mobile to mobile VoIP service using Skype software.
The customers must be overwhelmed. After all, they can make free calls from their handheld devices. However, there are certain critical implications for Mobile VoIP which we can not ignore.
For Skype, MOBIVOX will be the next major issue.
As it is distinctly visible, the mobile operators will loss their revenue if VoIP players like Skype will offer free or cheap mobile VoIP services over mobile operators’ network.
No doubt, the mobile operators can charge VoIP calls as data rates when customers are outside the WiFi areas, however they can not enjoy the hefty share.
