Skype Announces Unlimited Long-Distance Calls to over a Third of the World's Population

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Skype announced unlimited* calling today to over a third of the world’s population with the launch of its new calling subscriptions. The new subscriptions signal the first time Skype has offered a single, monthly flat rate for international calling to landline numbers in 34 countries.

The new subscriptions have no long-term contract. You can make calls whenever you want – at any time of the day, on any day of the week. From today, you can choose from three types of subscription – from unlimited calls to landlines in the country of your choice through to landlines in 34 destination countries worldwide.

Stefan Oberg, VP & GM telecoms at Skype said, “This move is a natural step for Skype. Skype was founded on the principle of making free voice and video calls available to people all around the world. And now we’re making it even easier for the Skype community to call their friends and family who are not yet on Skype. Our subscriptions give people an easy, hassle-free choice for how and when they want to catch up with their loved ones.”

Oberg continued, “For example if you live in London, for just €2.95 a month, you can call your grandmother in Poland, whenever you like, talk for up to six hours at a time, and not worry about how much it’s costing you. Your grandmother doesn’t need to understand the internet. You just use your Skype subscription to make the call and she just picks up the phone. And if you have friends and family spread over the world, you can reach them all for as little as €8.95 a month. When you combine the free features Skype is known for – from instant messaging to conference calling to video calls – with our subscriptions, it’s hard to find a better alternative.”

309 million people all over the world use Skype in all sorts of ways – whether it’s a weekly video call with a sister in Paris or sending an instant message to a college friend in Tokyo or calling a business contact overseas.

To purchase a subscription, simply go to skype.com/go/subscriptions for more details. If you purchase one of the new subscriptions for a 3-month or 12-month period before June 1^st 2008, you will receive a further 33% discount.

About Skype’s calling subscriptions:

Skype users around the world can choose to subscribe to any one of the following calling subscriptions based on their individual calling needs:

EUROPE
Unlimited Country	Unlimited calls* to landlines in the European country of your choice	€2.95/month
Unlimited Europe	Unlimited calls* to landlines in 20 European countries	€3.95/month
Unlimited World	Unlimited calls* to landlines in 34 countries worldwide	€8.95/month
US & CANADA
Unlimited US & Canada	Unlimited calls* to United States and Canada landlines and cell phones	€1.95/month
Unlimited Mexico	Unlimited calls* to landlines in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara. Plus discounted rates to landlines and cell phones in the rest of Mexico	€3.95/month
Unlimited World	Unlimited calls* to landlines in 34 countries worldwide	€6.95/month
ASIA
Unlimited Country	Unlimited calls* to landlines in one of 34 countries	€3.95/month
Asia 200	200 minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan per month	€5.95/month
Unlimited World	Unlimited calls* to landlines in 34 countries worldwide	€8.95/month
BRAZIL
Brazil 400	400 minutes of calls to landlines in Brazil per month	€5.95/month
World 400	400 minutes of calls to landlines in Brazil and 34 countries per month	€9.95/month
Unlimited World	Unlimited calls* to landlines in 34 countries worldwide (excl. Brazil)	€8.95/month
REST OF WORLD
Unlimited Country	Unlimited calls* to landlines in one of 34 countries	€3.95/month
Unlimited World	Unlimited calls* to landlines in 34 countries worldwide	€8.95/month

You will only pay one flat monthly fee. There are no hidden costs or additional connection charges.

In parallel with our new subscriptions, Skype continues to offer its Pay As You Go option. Put as little as €10 on your Skype account and you can call whoever you want, whenever you want at very low rates.

*Unlimited calling: all calls are subject to Skype’s fair usage policy which is set at 10,000 minutes per month (which equates to more than 5 hours of calling per day). Calls to premium, non-geographic and other special numbers are excluded.

About Skype

Millions of people every day use Skype software to communicate with others through free voice and video calls, as well as instant messages. Skype's 309 million registered users have made more than 100 billion minutes worth of free Skype-to-Skype calls. Many people also use SkypeOut™ or one of our global subscriptions to save money when calling landlines and mobiles at home and abroad. No longer bound to the computer, Skype conversations can also be had on a broad range of cordless handsets, mobile devices and other Skype Certified™ hardware. We've made it easy for Skype users to list and recommend their favourite local businesses to the rest of the community with SkypeFind. And even when you're fluent in Skype, there is always more to discover: hundreds of third-party developers have created software plug-ins that make Skype even more useful. All of this makes Skype the leading global internet communications company.

Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY), and you can learn more and get Skype at www.skype.com.

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required for Skype and all Skype Certified devices and accessories. Skype is not a replacement for your traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.