Internet phone provider Skype has had a tough time getting the major wireless carriers to allow its VoIP applications onto their networks. After a long standoff, AT&T finally relented, allowing the Skype iPhone app onto its 3G network. Could Verizon be next?
Verizon and Skype are planning a joint news conference at a major wireless conference next week in Spain. Could this be the news? Enterprise Mobile Today has the story.
Is there a mobile VoIP deal percolating between Verizon Wireless and Skype? It appears that way, as today the two companies issued a statement to the press saying they will hold a joint news conference Feb. 16 at Mobile World Congress (MWC).
Details of the joint-venture haven’t been disclosed, but it could be possible that Skype and Verizon are preparing to introduce a Skype client for smartphones running on the nation’s largest wireless network.
John Stratton, executive vice president and CMO at Verizon, and Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype, will be the speakers at the press conference next Tuesday at MWC, being held in Barcelona, Spain, according to the statement.
A partnership between the two firms could thaw chilly relations, as Skype has been a vocal critic of wireless carriers, claiming their closed network business strategy serves their own interests rather than that of consumers.
The debate over Net neutrality heated up over the fall of last year, with the FCC drafting guidelines that would prevent carriers from discriminating against content and data transmitted on their wireless networks. Skype openly supported the Feds in statements issued to the press, even as wireless companies continued to protest efforts at regulation.
