AT&T and Yahoo! team to offer VoIP

Stuart Corner
Friday, 28 April 2006 07:57

Business IT - Technology

AT&T and Yahoo have launched, in the US, a co-branded version of Yahoo! Messenger with Voice to AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet subscribers and all Yahoo! users in AT&T's traditional 13-state local service area.
The two companies have also expanded their long running relationship with an agreement that AT&T companies globally will be Yahoo!'s preferred network termination providers for the PC-based calling services in the Yahoo! Messenger with Voice service.

With the Phone Out feature, consumers in the US can make VoIP PC-to-Phone calls by using their PC to place calls to traditional or mobile phones to more than 180 countries. Calls within the US and to over 30 other countries can be made for two cents a minute or less, and US consumers can receive calls on their PC from traditional and mobile phones for $US2.99 a month or $US29.90 a year with the Phone In feature, that gives them a PSTN number in the city of their choice through which they can receive calls on their PC no matter where they are in the world.

On April 19 the two companies launched a beta of a new version of Yahoo! Mail, available to "a subset of" AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet and Dial subscribers in the US.

It provides enhanced functionality such as drag-and-drop e-mail organisation, message preview, and an integrated RSS reader that provides users with easy access to breaking news, blog entries and other feeds directly from Web mail. The new version will be made available to all users "in the coming months".
The move is the latest in an alliance forged in 2001 which saw the launch of co-branded high speed Internet and dial services less than a year later. The companies announced in late 2004 a multi-year extension of the alliance "with the intent to bring the AT&T Yahoo! customer experience beyond the PC, such as to home television and audio systems, Cingular Wireless handsets, AT&T Wi-Fi and AT&T home networking equipment."

They claim that, today, "the alliance stands as one of the most successful in the industry, based on subscriber growth and the strength of its award-winning features."