Call it what you may—VoIP, Internet phone service, or PC calling—but it's changing the face of telecommunications. PC calling services such as Skype are empowering people to affordably communicate with friends, family, and business associates using their broadband Internet connection. Its consumer popularity is undeniable, and demand is ever-increasing: user bases are expanding exponentially and billions of minutes are traveling via the VoIP network each year.

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	Jacob Guedalia

The explosive growth of PC calls and the dedication of IM communities offer huge opportunities for mobile operators. Conventional wisdom assumes that VoIP and WiFi pose a threat to carriers, that enabling mobile VoIP calling via a phone's WiFi connection means cannibalizing mobile air-time minutes. In spite of the seeming business challenge, however, the significance of the PC calling explosion within the bigger picture of telecom commands attention. What the conventional approach fails to recognize is that PC calling is vastly increasing the total minutes of voice communications. Billions of minutes of new calls are going through the VoIP network route, calls that may not have been made otherwise. Internet calling doesn't cut into the current communications pie but grows that pie larger.

Today the mobile networks aren't benefiting from this revolution—yet. What carriers need is a way to bridge the mobile voice and broadband networks. They need a solution that gives them expanded ARPU through additional airtime minutes and service charges and that attracts consumers with mobile access to the benefits of VoIP calls without the hassle of depending on WiFi, broadband, headsets, microphones, PCs, or USB phones. What mobile carriers need is iSkoot.

iSkoot delivers all the benefits of mobile VoIP without any of the sacrifices. Supported on native platforms (Symbian, UIQ, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm) and J2ME platforms, the iSkoot thin-client software lets users see their buddy lists and enjoy VoIP calling via the voice network on nearly any mobile phone. It utilizes the current ubiquitous network infrastructure and handsets and can scale to mass consumer deployment today.

By enabling mobile-to-PC communications today, iSkoot brings additional air-time minutes onto the mobile network. While the billions of PC calling minutes circumvent the cellular network, iSkoot redirects this traffic and channels new minutes through mobile operators' air times. Calling PCs from a cell phone is a new category of minutes, and revenue, for the wireless operator. By connecting mobile phones to the PC-PC IP network, iSkoot software allows operators to benefit from VoIP and new PC calling minutes to increase ARPU.

In addition to capturing new minutes for the mobile network, iSkoot gives operators a competitive edge by offering the next killer cell phone application. To complement text messaging to buddy systems, cell phone operators can now offer to connect voice communications from a mobile phone to an IM client. VoIP is the next frontier for the mobile operator and the next must-have feature among cell phone users. Far from being a threat, the iSkoot approach to VoIP provides the mobile operator with an excellent opportunity to gain air-time minutes, expand ARPU, and capture greater market share.

In all sectors of society, mobile users are demanding more from their handsets. For the tens of millions of dedicated Internet voice users confined to their PCs and WiFi hotspots, the iSkoot solution offers them the freedom to enjoy everything they love about VoIP services wherever they are.

About the Author

Jacob Guedalia is a proven visionary in the Internet telephony and streaming media space with a successful track record as entrepreneur and company builder. Jacob has launched four businesses: AccessGate product line for NMS Communications (NSDQ: NMSS); Mobilee, the first voice portal consumer service that scaled to one million subscribers in its first six months of operation and delivered voice services to Lycos/Telefonica and Shoutmail; OLiVR Corp., an advanced Internet imaging company which merged with Live Picture in 1997; and VDOnet Corp. Ltd. (later acquired by Citrix), the first company to offer video transmission over the Internet. He received his graduate degree in applied physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

About the Company

Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, iSkoot is dedicated to becoming a leader in enabling mobile Internet telephony. iSkoot extends the reach of Internet telephony by allowing users to make and receive calls over the web using any mobile phone. With iSkoot, VoIP users are no longer bound to their PCs. iSkoot enables users to take advantage of Internet phone services and buddy systems to make unlimited, superior-quality voice calls via next-generation peer-to-peer software from their cell phones. iSkoot software supports the Skype Internet telephony service but will be extending support to AIM, Yahoo, Microsoft services, and Mac systems. iSkoot uses the Skype API but is not endorsed or certified by Skype. For more information, visit www.iskoot.com.

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