TORONTO – Telus customers will soon be able to use Skype on their smart phones and purchase Skype credits through their Telus accounts. In addition, Telus will launch the first Skype edition smart phone in Canada, the LG Optimus Black, the companies announced Thursday.
Skype is a software application that allows users to make low cost voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. With 663 million registered users as of 2010, the company was acquired by Microsoft for US$8.5 billion last month.
Telus said that its partnership with Skype will allow customers to make unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls and instant messaging to users around the globe, as well as take advantage of Skype’s international calling rates to both landlines and mobile phones using Skype Credit. Telus customers will be able to have Skype Credit charged directly to their wireless bills.
"We believe that by developing a deep relationship with leading global communications brands that our customers already know and enjoy, such as Skype, Telus can provide a superior customer experience that leverages the best of what those brands have to offer and empowers our customers to choose the services they want and need," said Telus’ chief marketing officer, David Fuller, in the announcement. "By bringing Canadians their choice of the best communication technologies we offer our customers the freedom to customize their mobile experience with the services they want, when and how they want.”
Coming this summer, the Skype edition LG Optimus Black features a pre-loaded Skype icon that connects the user to the Android Market with one touch, where the latest version of Skype Mobile can be downloaded. It also boasts an in-box Skype quick-start guide, up to 60 minutes of Skype international calling credits, a two megapixel front facing camera, and a 700 nit NOVA display on its four inch touchscreen.
"People want to take their Skype conversations with them on-the-go, wherever they are, whether it’s on a laptop, or increasingly, via their mobile phones," added Russ Shaw, Skype’s VP and GM of mobile. "Telus will enable Canadian consumers to get the best Skype experience on their smart phones and it will truly change the way people communicate with their friends and family either here or abroad."
