[LINK] Skype Tops All in International Calls

Kim Holburn kim at holburn.net
Wed Mar 25 22:09:01 AEDT 2009


http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=27800&email=html
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/skype-tops-all.html

> Skype is now the largest provider of international phone calls in  
> the world.
>
> That's according to telecom research firm Telegeography, which  
> estimates that Skype’s cross-border traffic shot up to 33 billion  
> minutes in 2008, up more than 40% from the year before.
>
> That includes about 25 million billion minutes of free "Skype-to- 
> Skype" traffic that travels only through internet pipes and doesn't  
> even go over the traditional telephone network. A little over 8  
> billion minutes are paid "Skype Out" calls that go from a user's  
> computer to traditional telephones.
>
> "Skype’s traffic growth has been remarkable," said TeleGeography  
> analyst Stephan Beckert. "Only five years after its launch, Skype  
> has emerged as the largest provider of cross-border voice  
> communications in the world."
>
> Skype's cheap international calling rates  and its free user-to-user  
> calls and video are in part to blame for the lack of revenue growth  
> in international calling, even as international call volume  
> continues to go up at about 10 percent a year.
>
> Auction giant eBay bought Skype in 2005 for about $3 billion, though  
> investors have generally been skeptical of the purchase. However  
> eBay recently said that it expects Skype's revenues to double to $1  
> billion in 2011.
>
> Over the last decade, international call volume has jumped from 71.7  
> billion minutes in 1997 to 343 billion in 2007, according to  
> Telegeography's research.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
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