monica.paolini posted on November 03, 2011 11:28
Apparently that's possible -- and it is not at all a bad idea. Telekomsel in Indonesia has announced an unlimited Skype plan priced at slightly less than three dollars per month. Why pay for something you can get for free anyway, you can get for free anyway with your data plan? You would not, if you have a multi-GB data plan. But the untapped market for data subscribers -- now that all the deep-pocketed early-users have their fancy iPhones and Android devices -- is among those who are not willing to pay $30+ per month to watch the YouTube videos when they are bored, and look for better value for their money. Skype plans, social networking plans have a great potential to get this huge market segment on board, to convince subscribers to move from feature phones to smartphones, and to offer more fine-tuned services at affordable prices.
Will Telekomsel cannibalize its own revenues with the unlimited Skype plan? That's unlikely that this will be a major issue. If you are an high-ARPU user, you are unlikely to move your calls to Skype to save money. I love Skype, but it does not generally match cellular voice in quality or reliability. The operator is trying to reach those who are on a tighter budget and who communicate mostly by texting, and has the opportunity to sell an add-on service to their texting plan at a price that they can afford it. And this translate in additional revenues - unless subscribers find out that they no longer need their texting plans.