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Skype goes mobile and joins team 3
Break free from your PC...

By Reuters

Published: Monday 29 October 2007

eBay division Skype and mobile phone group 3 have launched a handset that allows Skype users to make free internet calls from their mobile phones.

The companies also said the new 3 Skypephone can send free Skype instant messages.

Frank Sixt, finance director of 3 owner Hutchison Whampoa, said the company hopes to sell "several hundred thousand" units worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.

The phone is being launched in nine markets including Australia, Italy and the UK. In the UK, the phone will cost $102.6 on pay-as-you-go and will be free for 3 contract users. It will be on sale in 3's stores from 2 November.

Sixt said the phone's non-Skype fees are the same as on its other phones, with call minutes and texts priced the same way.

Skype acting CEO, Michael van Swaaij, said in a statement: "Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset lets you make free mobile Skype calls when you are on the move to other Skype users all over the world."

Swaaij added he expects the launch to boost the group's 246 million-strong registered user base, as the service is now available to people without computers.

He said: "We think there will be significant interest from those who aren't on Skype as it is so easy to set up. You don't have to have a laptop."