Skype Faces Shut Down, Expands Service
VoIP users who patronize Skype might be compelled to search for another alternative to make phone calls over the web if the legal issue it faces are not decided in its favor. The decision is being made by the parent company, eBay, could be forced to close Skype if it can’t renew a license for peer-to-peer communication technology that underpins the popular internet phone service.
eBay has been embroiled in a raging legal battle with the original founders of the technology. The company bought the underlying technology for more than £1 billion in the year 2005 from Joltid, a company owned by Skype’s founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom.
In the meantime, eBay said it has begun developing an alternative to the technology at the center of the dispute with Joltid. However, such software development may not be successful, may result in loss of functionality or customers even if successful, and will in any event be expensive.
Amidst this legal issue, Skype has announced the expansion of its Skypein service to include South Africa, Netherlands and Malta to the Skypein country where you can get a Skypein number. SkypeIn allows Skype users to receive calls on their computers dialed by regular phone subscribers to a local Skype phone number. Users in Canada would still have to wait until the company decides to open up the service to them and let us hope that the legal issue is decided in its favor.
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