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.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS