TMCnet News

Skype to Offer VoIP over 3G on Verizon Wireless?

[February 12, 2010]

Skype to Offer VoIP over 3G on Verizon Wireless?

Originally posted on VoIP & Gadgets Blog, here: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/skype/skype-to-offer-voip-over-3g-on-verizon-wireless.asp.

Skype's PR man Chaim Haas emailed the TMC (News - Alert) team to tell us that Skype and Verizon Wireless will have a joint news conference next week being hosted by Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless and Skype at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Now this is mere speculation, but this could potentially mean Skype over 3G on Verizon's network. Currently, the U.K.-based carrier 3 is the only one offering direct Skype calling on their cellular network, though you have to use special Skype (News - Alert) phones. The question is will this Verizon Wireless deal be similar to 3 in that you need to purchase a special Skype-enabled handset? Or will some of the existing Verizon Wireless handsets support Skype via a software/firmware download? Or perhaps even better Verizon Wireless will do all the Skype connectivity on their back-end, which means any Verizon Wireless handset will work.

Speakers at the news conference include John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Wireless and Josh Silverman, chief executive officer, Skype. Seems like pretty big news to me.

Here's the news conference info in case you want first hand knowledge:

WHERE:
GSMA (News - Alert) Media Centre, Hall 2.1, Press Conference Room 3
Fira de Barcelona
Av. Reina Maria Cristina, s/n, 08004
Barcelona, Spain

To listen to a teleconference of the news conference, participants may call:
877-883-4690 (toll free within the U.S. and Canada)
+1-706-758-5386 (international)
Conference ID: 57101247

WHEN: 5:15 p.m. CET (11:15 a.m. EST / 8:15 a.m. PST) on Tuesday, February 16, 2010

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