Skype goes SIM with 3

U.K. mobile operator 3 is going to offer up a Skype "oriented" SIM card for less than $3 to enable free calls to other Skype users free of charge. As the kids would text: OMG! The service will launch May 1.

Subscribers with a compatible handset will be able to get unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls and messages, so long as they buy the SIM card.  A user will plug in the new SIM card and get text messages with instructions on how to set up 3's Internet settings and download Skype client software. New users can proceed directly to "Go" and buy a 3 Skypephone; the carrier has been selling a Skype-compatible handset since 2007.

In the first part of the Skype SIM roll out, 3 customers who use Skype on 3's U.K. network and its phones will be exempt from charges. A second part of the rollout will expand the offer to anyone with a compatible unlocked 3G handset in the U.K.

U.K.-based 3 is betting that subscribers who get hooked on Skype will later pay for more costly services and data applications. Working with Skype also gives it publicity in a highly competitive U.K. cellular market.

Skype isn't the first company to blend its service with a SIM card. Truphone melded its SIM card division with its mobile VoIP bypass service, making a big splash at Mobile World Congress in February.

For more:
- InformatonWeek catches the SIM for Skype card. Article.
- PC World also has data. Article

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