A ghetto (country) called Skype

Jean Mercier just posted an interesting comment in which he predicts that Skype will soon provide a new system for virtual PSTN numbers that goes well beyond SkypeIN. The new system relates to the 883 prefix which is a virtual "country"... or you might think of it as an international toll-free number, which is further explained at VOIP-News. I agree with Jean, assuming the report is true, that it will have a huge positive impact on number of "real" Skype users and on the volume of Skype "minutes".

It makes much sense to me that this virtual number (883 + 12 or more digits) will be made available to Skyper users and mapped to Skype names. I don't think however that Skype will map the entire Skype cloud to these virtual numbers. It makes more sense for Skype to lease numbers as they are now doing with SkypeIN or via a bundle of extras like SkypePro" where there is a separate fee by the minute for incoming calls. Such a structure would provide a good incentive to tell your caller to get Skype and thereby relieve you of extra charges.

Also, let's remember that virtual numbers are just another way of avoiding the transition to real Skype where there are additional features such as presence, video, IM, file transfer, etc. In other words, a system in which virtual "phone numbers" are mapped to Skype names just illustrates how the ghetto of PSTN is being perpetuated even as vastly superior IP services become available. Similarly, most VOIP carriers continue to be trapped in that ghetto, where voice is the only medium of communication. The word I use for the new world of IP communications is "CKIP", pronounced like "skype" but meaning "Cyber Kinetic IP".

With SkypeIN, Skype-to-go, SkypeOUT, 3 Skypephone, (and the list goes on and on), we are witnessing today the death throes of old telephony. New IP telephony will replace it slowly but surely. Even as these PSTN bridges make Skype more popular in the near term, the end of the PSTN "bridge" era comes more clearly into view.

Comments?