• GigaOm, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 11:30 AM

AT&T is joining forces with some 10-15 telecom carriers, including British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and NTT, to build a Skype competitor, according to research published by ThinkEquity analyst Anton Wahlman. GigaOm is quick to point out that the research paper is only a theory, but that Wahlman has a history of theories that were proven right. In any event, the Wahlman said thinks that carriers will soon offer a voice-over-Internet Protocol client that runs over broadband/3G wireless piping and uses a backend platform that allows users to make free calls to anyone logged into the VoIP network.

Just like Skype, calls made within the network would be free. Each of the carriers involved in the VoIP network would make money from calls made outside the network to one of the carriers' phone services. "We believe that they will have to use a common client and common software platform in order to make this work," Wahlman said. It's a cool idea, but Om Malik said that at this point, there's a slim chance of anyone catching up with Skype, which continues to add subscribers apace. Wahlman believes the service would be launched in 2009 and would eventually extend to mobile phones.

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