Verizon Wireless follows AT&T in embracing Skype
Published: 17 February, 2010
READ MORE: US | Skype | Verizon | VoIP
Verizon Wireless has become the second US mobile operator to partner with internet telephony player Skype, as cellcos increasingly realize they must embrace, rather than try to kill, such popular web apps.
Last year's Mobile World Congress saw several key Skype deals on the mobile platform, including those with Nokia and Sony Ericsson and, on the carrier side, 3. Now it is gaining strength stateside. Verizon and Skype have co-developed a mobile offering for Verizon's 1xEV-DO customers, who can download the free client to smartphones and use the Skype service to make unlimited free calls to Skype users worldwide and Skype Out at the usual rates.
Skype will initially be supported on nine Verizon smartphones - six BlackBerry models, Motorola's Droid and Devour, and HTC's Droid Eris. In contrast to AT&T's original Skype offering, the app will be allowed from day one on to the EV-DO 3G network, rather than being confined to Wi-Fi. AT&T did add 3G support last October.
Verizon chief marketing officer John Stratton told TelecomAsia: "We did modeling of the Skype usage case to measure the network impact, and we're confident that it won't be a problem. The one thing we won't do is allow our network quality to erode." He will have been examining the experience of other Skype carriers, notably the most enthusiastic of them, Hutchison's 3 Group, which has gained high levels of user uptake and churn reduction from its free Skype offering. 3 even offers Skype optimized handsets, from sister company INQ.
"We've made a bet here, because we like what Skype has been doing, and the fact that they're signing up 300,000 new users per day," Stratton added.
The deal is also a boost for Skype, which has been actively seeking new operator deals after revealing in November last year that its partnership with 3 UK helped the cellco boost its circuit-switched voice and SMS business rather than cannibalize it.
"We're seeing attitude changes with operators," said Skype CEO Josh Silverman. "Our experience with 3 demonstrated that they could make more money with Skype."
Silverman hedged on describing the Verizon hook-up as an exclusive deal, but said, "The software offering that we've co-developed is something that's exclusive to Verizon."
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