US operator Verizon Wireless will tomorrow launch its Skype mobile service, the fruits of a VoIP partnership between the two companies initially announced at last month’s GSMA Mobile World Congress. Nine BlackBerry and Android-powered smartphones will offer the service from launch (with more to follow); the BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition, and Tour 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS by HTC and the Motorola DEVOUR. The Skype mobile application will allow Verizon’s data subscribers to exchange phone calls with other Skype members at no extra cost. This means Verizon Wireless may lose revenue from long distance calls, but it said this would not be material. The number one US mobile operator expects Skype to attract a big enough number of new data subscribers to Verizon that it will offset any revenue declines. In a departure for Skype, Verizon Wireless will connect Skype users on its EV-DO voice network instead of over the Internet, which is where Skype has traditionally routed calls in order to reduce fees to consumers. According to Reuters, Verizon Wireless said it may eventually deliver Skype calls over the Internet when it launches a higher speed network, but had no plans to do so yet. The companies said that while other operators can offer a version of Skype, no other operator would be able to offer the Skype mobile app that Verizon will.  

The decision by the largest US carrier to support Skype’s VoIP client on many new high-profile smartphones confirms a change of attitude among mobile operators who have historically been hostile towards VoIP providers. Verizon joins 3 in teaming with Skype, following a partnership between the European 3G focused operator and the VoIP provider a few years back. Although Skype is also available on Nokia devices and via operating systems such as Symbian and Apple’s iPhone OS, the support of major operators is arguably its biggest mobile success story yet.