The Luxembourg-based start-up confirmed on Tuesday that it was testing voicemail, which a spokeswoman said was scheduled to be rolled out in the first half of the year. She declined to provide further details.
"We are testing voicemail as you know. But I can`t say anymore than that. We do not have launch date -- should be sometime this spring. It is just in development phase," spokeswoman Kat James said in a Skype messaging chat.
Skype members dialling selected users who were off-line have recently been greeted by a female voice asking them to leave a message, followed by the familiar beep. But service is not yet accepting any recordings.
Chief executive Niklas Zennstrom, who had also introduced the controversial file-swapping program Kazaa, has previously cited voicemail as an example of a premium offering the company would roll out in 2005 in response to user requests.
Skype, which offers free calls between computer users, has been looking for ways to build a profitable business. It has recently started selling low-priced voice calls to computer users who want to call fixed and mobile phones.
It has already signed several deals with vendors such as Siemens and Logitech to roll out Skype phones that work in the home, and other equipment and is working on offerings for corporate clients.
Skype, which uses the Internet to deliver voice calls, has 20.2 million registered users and is adding 100 000 new users daily.
Skype and other Internet-based telephony services such as subscription-based Vonage, threaten to shake up the telecoms world by taking away clients from traditional operators, but have been seeking to come up with viable business models.
Share