Microsft & MCI Inc. To Offer VoIP Service

Microsoft and Verizon-owned MCI Inc. have announced a deal to start offering a VoIP service dubbed “MCI Web Calling for Windows Live Call” shortly after BT and Yahoo! announced their entry into the VoIP marketplace.

The new VoIP service from Microsoft and MCI Inc. will allow customers to place calls from a computer to a traditional landline phone or cellphone. The new service is set to launch in the USA this week, with a wider rollout in the first half of 2006. Teleo Inc., a small startup acquired by Microsft in August, will provide the technology to let people initiate a call simply by clicking a button on a page.

Users of MSN Messenger will be able to make calls to cellphones or landlines using the new service, but will have to wait to be able to received calls through the instant messenging application.

Windows Live Call will be priced at a base rate of $0.23 per minute throughout the initial trial, with a price review to come when it rolls out fully next year. Customers will be able to sign up for the new VoIP service through Microsoft’s new Windows Live Messenger software that is slated to eventually replace MSN Messenger. Calling time will be available in $5, $10 and $25 amounts from MCI Inc., who will handle accounts, customer billing and support.

This could be how the new MSN Messenger enabled with VoIP will look.