SKYPE RELEASES PRE-PAID CALLING CARDS

Skype has announced the availability of Skype Prepaid Cards, a new way for users in the UK to purchase Skype Credit and add features to the free software they already use.

Now available at more than 1,400 stores throughout the UK, with more to follow, users are able to purchase Skype Credit at their preferred retail outlet to top up their Skype account online or to offer to friends and family as a gift.

Skype Prepaid Cards will be available in £10 and £20 denominations and can be easily redeemed online at skype.com against Skype paid features – all designed to provide additional possibilities to share more with loved ones and to keep in touch easily.

Skype Prepaid Cards are the way to get access to a whole set of Skype paid features, such as:

· Making affordable calls to mobiles and landlines around the world

· Sending low cost text messages

· Holding video calls with multiple people

· Unlimited calls to a country of your choice

· Connection to over one million global WiFi hotspots

Katie Walley, Head of Cards and Lending at Asda Money, said: “At Asda we are committed to helping our customers save money every day. We see Skype as an ideal way to make communicating more affordable, and the Skype Prepaid Cards will be available in over 200 stores over the coming months.”

Shelly Roberts, Buyer at Sainsbury’s, said: “We’re always looking for ways to help our customers save money so it’s great news that our partnership with Skype means that these cards, which will be available in over 400 Sainsbury’s stores, will allow our customers to remain in contact with their friends and family cost effectively.”

This is a significant new direction in Skype’s retail strategy, according to Enrico Noseda, Head of Market Development for the EMEA region at Skype: “We see Skype Prepaid Cards as yet another option for users to get more out of the Skype experience, either as a way to add Skype Credit to their account or as a perfect gift for friends and family to allow them to keep in touch more easily. The Skype Credit can be used in whichever way and on whichever device best suits the user, making it as easy as possible to be together whenever we are apart.”

There has been no announcement as to whether the cards will be available in Africa.