16 September 2005
The sale of Skype, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider, is another sign that VoIP will revolutionise the traditional home telephone market, according to a magazine.
A report out yesterday from the Economist says that with Ebay's purchase of Skype, VoIP technology - which allows people to make home telephone calls over a broadband internet connection - will expand further and eventually make separate phone lines obsolete.
New super-fast broadband has the capacity to carry multiple data streams, so users can watch digital TV at the same time as making a phone call or surfing the internet.
Ever-increasing numbers of broadband users mean that, in effect, one day home telephone calls will be free.
Skype's free service already has 54 million users worldwide, and works by members inviting each other.
"We want to make as little money as possible per user," Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype, told the Economist, because "we don't have any cost per user, but we want a lot of them".
The magazine says that, according to iSuppli, a market-research firm, the number of residential VOIP subscribers worldwide will reach 197 million by 2010.
Compare home telephone suppliers and save up to £170 on your bills now at uSwitch.com.