Skype targets corporate market: report

A man uses a Skype internet phone next to a laptop in Taipei, November 11, 2005.

(Reuters) - EBay unit Skype on Monday plans to announce a version of its Internet calling software that connects to corporate phone systems, the Wall Street Journal said.

The new software, called Skype for SIP, is expected to allow employees to make domestic and international calls with regular office telephones, instead of a headset plugged into a personal computer, the paper said.

Initially, the company will charge about 2.1 cents per minute for calls to cellphones and fixed lines, but calls from computers to phone systems using the Skype software will be free, the paper said.

Skype, which was acquired by eBay in 2005, is one of the best-known Internet calling firms that allow free calls among Internet users. Users pay to call landlines and mobile phones, but the fee is often lower than standard long-distance services.

(Reporting by S. John Tilak in Bangalore; Editing by Rupert Winchester)