Cell carriers want Nokia to drop Skype
By Emily Price
Nokia recently announced plans to start offering Skype VoIP service on some of its smartphones, and now mobile providers have started reacting to the news – not well as you might imagine.
Obviously, the carriers main concerns lie in the fact that VoIP plans would inevitably start to cut into their own personal revenue from voice plans on their phones. While there are currently already a few companies who offer Skype on their mobile phones, the service is currently restricted to only Wi-Fi connections, none of the cell phone carriers want people to be able to use their data networks.
Both Orange and O2 in the UK have already threatened Nokia with not carrying the phones unless they take away the Skype functionality from the device. Mobile carriers 3 and T-Mobile have already started offering Skype on their mobile phones in the UK and AT&T allows customers to use Skype on the iPhone as long as calls are restricted to Wi-Fi networks.
T-Mobile in the US has even gone as far as to offer HotSpot@Home service that allows customers to use their mobile phones for VoIP calls while they’re at home, but the calls automatically switch to the cell network if they wander out of the range of the device.
It seems like the addition of Skype (or VoIP in general) is inevitably going to make its way to mobile phones, whether it comes in the form of these Nokia phones or not. It’s interesting that mobile carriers are still trying to fight it so hard (to a point they’re going to refuse to carry phones) in order to keep it from making its way to their handsets.
Do you use Skype on your mobile phone? Would you use VoIP on your mobile phone if it was available to you?
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February 28th, 2009
Of course I would use Skype to make phone calls. The problem with the carriers is their business models have not caught up with where technology is at the moment. The ludicrous voice plans have allowed the carriers to make pots of money by charging more than telcos charge for fixed line calls. But the thing is, it should be cheaper to deliver calls wirelessly, than through wires. Just think about the vastly different cost structure.
March 1st, 2009
The cell phone companies need to learn how to survive on revenues derived from content and do it fast. With the advent of true WiFi roaming millions of city dwellers will have zero cost options. Voice calls whether over land line or 3G are not a sustainable source of revenue for them.
November 2nd, 2009
I use Skype on the iPhone in places like the local grocery store, where there is no ATT signal, but they have free broadband wireless throughout the store — so I can call out with Skype.
It is surprising how many places that one can get a broadband wireless signal on an iPhone, but not a usable ATT signal.