April 21, 2008
Skype announced unlimited* calling today to over a third of the world’s population with the launch of its new calling subscriptions.
The company that made free, global voice and video calls over the internet possible for more than 309 million registered users is now offering a way for Skype users to make major savings on the cost of international calls.
This signals the first time Skype has offered a single, monthly flat rate for international calling to landline numbers in 34 countries. The new subscriptions have no long-term contract. You can make calls whenever you want – at any time of the day, on any day of the week. From today, Skype users can choose from three types of subscription – from unlimited calls to landlines in the country of your choice through to landlines in 34 destination countries worldwide.
Chris Lewis, Head of Business Development, Asia-Pacific at Skype believes the launch of Skype’s subscriptions will be welcome news to Skype users wanting to reduce their monthly phone bills.
“From interest rate rises to soaring petrol and grocery prices, the cost of living seems higher than ever, and an expensive monthly phone bill is one thing most people can do without,” Lewis said.
“The introduction of the new subscriptions is a natural step for Skype. Skype was founded on the principle of making free voice and video calls available to people all around the world. And now we’re making it even easier for the Skype community to call their friends and family who are not yet on Skype. Our subscriptions give people an easy, hassle-free choice for how and when they want to catch up with their loved ones.”
Lewis continued, “For example, for just $5.95 a month, you can call your grandmother in China whenever you like, talk for up to six hours at a time, and not worry about how much it’s costing you. Your grandmother doesn’t need to understand the internet. You just use your Skype subscription to make the call and she just picks up the phone. And if you have friends and family spread over the world, you can reach them all for as little as $14.95 a month. When you combine the free features Skype is known for – from instant messaging to conference calling to video calls – with our subscriptions, it’s hard to find a better alternative.”
To purchase a subscription, simply go to the Skype subscription page (link opens in new window) for more details. If you purchase one of the new subscriptions for a 3-month or 12-month period before June 1st 2008, you will receive a further 33% discount.
*Unlimited calling: all calls are subject to Skype’s fair usage policy which is set at 10,000 minutes per month (which equates to more than 5 hours of calling per day). Calls to premium, non-geographic and other special numbers are excluded.
Source: Skype
