TeliaSonera Introducing VoIP Charges This Summer

Internet calls are fast replacing traditional voice calls, but they still make up the major source of revenue for telecommunication firms like TeliaSonera (News - Alert). In an effort to deal with this challenge, the Swedish telecommunications firm has decided to introduce charges for mobile internet calls.

In a recent press release, TeliaSonera AB announced that it will soon release the details of new plans that incorporate charges for Web-based telephone calls (or VoIP-calls) through services such as Skype (News - Alert) and Google Talk.

“We plan to provide more exact details about these plans towards the end of the summer, sometime in August,” TeliaSonera spokesperson Anna Augustson noted in a statement.

There is good news for current TeliaSonera subscribers, though, who do not have to pay any additional fees for using VoIP services and will continue to enjoy free Internet calls, that is, until their current contract with TeliaSonera expires.

“Also, we will continue to offer subscription packages where VoIP calls are included in the subscription price,” Augustson added.

VoIP calls have become increasingly popular, as high-speed third and fourth generation mobile network technology have been gaining traction. Under this backdrop, firms such as TeliaSonera are apprehensive of losing a large chunk of revenue, which still come from traditional voice calls.

TeliaSonera has already introduced special charges for VoIP calls in Spain, where its subscribers pay EUR6 (almost eight dollars) a month for 100 megabytes worth of VoIP calls, equaling five to 10 hours of talk-time. The company will follow more or less the same pricing model for their other markets, company CEO Lars Nyberg revealed.

The company is furthermore set to launch its own VoIP-service.

VoIP over mobile networks has lately become a political issue with Swedish telecom operators, who want to implement technologies to prevent those in Sweden from making free calls using services like Skype and Viber. Last year, the European Commission launched a probe into telecom firms who block Internet communications services like Skype.

Earlier this year, TeliaSonera announced its selection by Rostelecom (News - Alert), Russia’s leading long distance operator, for managing a strategic new link between Russia and Europe as well as managing its new backbone network between Kingisepp, Russia and Stockholm, Sweden. The next-generation managed optical network provides connectivity between the cable landing points of the Baltic Cable System, Kingisepp and Kotka, implemented over TeliaSonera International Carrier’s wholly-owned fiber-optic infrastructure to Stockholm, Sweden. The platform, with an initial 600 Gbps capacity, is scalable up to 3.2 Tbps and provides a guaranteed service life of at least 10 years.

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