Europe
UK : Skype, the fastest growing Internet Communications Company and
Hutchison 3 Group, the leader in 3G mobile services, today announced
an agreement to enable Skype communications on 3G.
Working together, Hutchison
3 Group and Skype plan to give people the freedom to enjoy Skype anywhere
they go, whether at home, in the office or on the move while on Hutchison’s
3 networks. Hutchison views Skype as an attractive value added service,
providing customers with more choice and thus further accelerating
the uptake of the Hutchison’s 3G services.
The Skype and Hutchison
3 brands compliment each other, representing innovation and high value
offerings to consumers. This partnership will enable Hutchison to
directly tap into the 75 million people using Skype across the Hutchison
territories and promote to them the benefits of using Skype on Hutchison’s
networks.
“With Skype on mobile
devices, people can keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues
wherever they go. This takes Skype beyond the PC into the mobile world,”
said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. “I believe
this will accelerate the adoption and use of Skype to new levels.”
Pioneering 3G mobile operator
Hutchison 3 Group is expected to be the first to market the Skype-enabled
mobile devices. Hutchison is running friendly user trials to optimize
the user experience and plans to launch later this year, following
its trials, in countries including Austria, Australia, Hong Kong,
Sweden, the UK and Italy. Trials will be carried out using enabled
mobile phones from leading phone manufacturers.
3 Sweden is already offering
a Skype bundle with a 3G flat-rate subscription and 3G data card.
With a mobile flat-rate data plan from Hutchison 3, users can make
unlimited Skype calls.
“Skype on
3G smartphones, datacards and other devices is a service that our
customers will be thrilled to use. With Skype they can talk for as
long as they want with their friends around the world. It will be
a great addition to our existing wide range of multi-media mobile
broadband services. We believe Skype is yet another reason for people
to choose 3 – customers demand a choice of innovative services
and we are delighted to be working with Skype to deliver that, said
Christian Salbaing, MD Europe Telecommunications at Hutchison 3. “We
look forward to offering it to our subscribers in our key markets
starting with Sweden and then in our other markets as soon as user
trials are concluded.” Skype
for mobile devices offers a number of key features and benefits:
Skype-to-Skype and SkypeOut
calls
Instant Messaging and group chat
Presence, including ‘online’, ‘offline’, ‘away’,
and ‘call forwarding’
Voicemail
Easy contact search
Contact request authorization and new contact addition