Skype price plan claims 'more for less'

VoIP firm switches domestic calls to flat rate pricing.

VoIP provider Skype has rolled out a new pricing plan that eliminates per-minute charges in favour of a connection fee for certain calls.

SkypePro subscribers will now be charged a connection fee of €0.039 ($0.065) to place a domestic call to a landline, regardless of the length of the call.

The program will be launched in Europe, and Skype plans to have the new system in place worldwide by the end of the year.

Stefan Oberg, general manager of Skype Telecoms, said that the plan was based on the success of subscription-based programmes in the US and the UK.

He claimed that the service offers users more for less because they can buy additional Skype paid-for products at a lower cost.

The connection fee rate does not cover calls to mobile phones, which will still use the SkypeOut per-minute pricing plan.

The company said that its subscription services in the US and UK will not include connection fees. Computer-to-computer calls will also continue to be free.

Skype said that per-minute rates for several countries have also been reduced. Calls to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Alaska and Hawaii will all cost €0.017 ($0.027) per minute for users subscribing to SkypeOut.