The Internet phone service Skype is introducing new domestic calling plans for 25 countries and territories where users will pay a monthly subscription and a connection fee but no per-minute charges.
The monthly fees for the new Skype Pro plans have not yet been finalized, but they were expected to be set at less than 5 euros, or about US$6.50, an executive said on Wednesday.
The per-call connection fee for Skype Pro calls within a given country to a regular phone or mobile device within that same country will be roughly 3.9 euro cents, said Stefan Oberg, general manager for Skype Telecoms.
The connection fee also will be charged on international calls in addition to the per-minute rate for the country dialed.
Skype calls are dialed over a high-speed Internet connection using either a personal computer, a cordless handset configured to communicate directly over a broadband modem, or certain cellphones with Wi-Fi capability. Each user can call other Skype users for free.
The new options were being launched a month after Skype, a subsidiary of eBay Inc, introduced a North American service offering unlimited calls within the US and Canada with no connection or per-minute fees for about US$30 per year -- or less than half as much as Skype Pro appears likely to cost.
The company took a different approach in North America largely due to technical issues that prevented storage of credit card information for monthly recurring charges, Oberg said. The Skype Pro approach is preferable, he said, because consumers are more familiar with paying monthly fees for telephone service and connection charges common in many nations.
The Skype Pro plans also will include free voice mail, a service for which Skype charges 15 euros per year. Subscribers also will be offered an as-yet-undetermined discount on a "SkypeIn" number that can be given out to receive calls from regular and wireless phones. That service currently costs 30 euros per year.
For those not interested in a monthly subscription, Skype said it is also reducing its per-minute domestic rates up to 65 percent, to 1.7 euro cents, for calls within countries including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, and Malaysia.
Skype Pro is being offered in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the UK.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
A clandestine US Navy special missions unit colloquially known as SEAL Team 6 has been training for missions to assist Taiwan’s defense against an attack by China, the Financial Times said in a report yesterday. The navy commando team famous for killing Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, has been conducting training to take part in a Taiwan conflict at its Dam Neck headquarters in Virginia Beach for more than one year, it said, citing sources familiar with the matter. “The secret training underlines the increased US focus on deterring China from attacking Taiwan, while stepping up preparations for such an event,”
RSS