Skype, the long distance king

New data from TeleGeography says Skype is moving 8 percent of the world's international long distance phone traffic. "Only five years after its launch, Skype has emerged as the largest provider of cross-border voice communications in the world," said TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert.

As a whole, international voice traffic continues to rise, as it grew 14 percent in 2007 and is estimated to have grown 12 percent in 2008 to around 384 billion minutes. However, revenues have been largely flat due to declining call prices.

TeleGeography estimates that Skype's cross-border traffic grew 41 percent in 2008 to 33 billion minutes. Wholesale carriers such as iBasis and Level 3 are picking up revenues from "Skype Out" traffic, with the service generating 8.4 billion minutes of calls in 2008.

It's an interesting benchmark with more interesting complications. Why would anyone (eBay) want to sell off the world's largest long-distance provider, so long as it is making money?  

For more:
- TeleGeography's article, complete with pie chart.

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