Skype Signs One Millionth Paid VoIP User

Skype Technologies said its paid SkypeOut service hit the one million user mark Friday, in an announcement made at the Cebit show in Germany.

The firm's CEO and co-founder Niklas Zennstroem said that the VoIP company is adding new users at the rate of 155,000 a day, bringing its registered user base to 29 million. Most use Skype's free peer-to-peer Internet phoning service to talk to each other.

SkypeOut, Skype's premium service costing 2 Euro-cents a minute--about 2.4 cents--connects callers to PSTN (public switched telephone network) numbers worldwide.

Skype said it will soon announce new premium (paid) services as well as additions to its free Skype offering.

The leading U.S. VoIP provider is Vonage Holdings, which recently announced that it has more than 500,000 subscribers. Vonage users generally pay $30 a month for its VoIP service. While it has targeted the U.S. market primarily, Vonage is beginning to make inroads in international markets--initially in the U.K. and Mexico. Skype generally appeals more to subscribers making international calls.