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Skype Rolls Out New Biz Service

Internet calling company aims to boost revenue

By Sarah Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 23, 2009 8:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – Internet calling company Skype is introducing new software for businesses that lets workers on corporate phone systems make calls using regular office phones instead of computer headsets, the Wall Street Journal reports. Domestic and international calls to cellphones and landlines will start at 2.1 cents a minute, and computer- to-Skype-network calls will be free, as they are in the company's consumer service.

Parent company eBay has been feeling pressure from shareholders who want Skype to make more money or be sold. Last year, it brought in $550 million. Skype is hoping its customer base—405 million users, and many already use it for business—will set it apart from rivals. "If Skype didn't exist, our phone bills would be I'm guessing 50% to 100% higher," a California business owner said.

[Images (3)]

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AP business writer Matt Moore uses a Voice over Internet Protocol telephone in the Frankfurt, Germany, office in this April 7, 2005, file photo. (AP Photo/Wolfram Steinberg, file)

Janus Friis, co-founder of Skype and Joost, breaks for lunch during the annual Allen and Co.'s media conference July 11, 2007, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

EBay President and CEO Meg Whitman, left, stands with Niklas Zennstrom, CEO and co-founder of Skype, in London on Sept, 12, 2005. (AP Photos / Sergio Dionisio, eBay)

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Customers told us, 'How can we take you seriously when you look like an Abba album from 1976?'
- Stefan Oberg, general manager of Skype for business, on why the company needs to ditch its guitar-and-rainbow logo

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Skype Rolls Out New Biz Service