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Hutchison Telecom Australia next week is expected to unveil a Skype phone to be marketed via its “3” third-generation mobile network.
The company has called the Australian press to a media event next Tuesday. It has not said what will be announced – but the date coincides with pre-signalled Skype Phone announcements by “3” subsidiaries in Hong Kong and London.
Hutchison already enables Australian “3” users who sign up for its “X series” mobile plans to make free Skype-to-Skype calls on certain handsets, using eBay’s Skype software. But the new deal is for a physical Skype phone.
Three is not expected to charge extra to use the Skype feature, but customers will need to spend a certain amount per month for other services, such as regular mobile calls, ringtones, or text messaging.
A report in Scientific American this week said Skype would introduce the phone in all countries where “3” operates, though it did not give a timeframe. Scientific American noted “3” is the mobile venture of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa group and operates in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and UK.
Other reports claim the phone is being developed by ISkoot Software and will be known as “the White Phone”. Users would be able to call friends and regular contacts anywhere in the world by just pressing a large button above the keypad, these reports said.
