Skype to begin charging monthly fee for 3G calling

Skype 2.0 was launched for the iPhone 3G, fetching a long-sought feature to the table: making calls over 3G. By now, 5 million users have downloaded the application from the iTunes Store, showing just how significant this feature is to users.

Unfortunately, the new aspect was accompanied by an unpleasant announcement; after August 2010, Skype will start charging a monthly fee for the 3G calling feature on top of whatever fee you're previously paying your mobile operator for data transfer.

Skype assures the fee will be reasonable. We're not going to desire to price ourselves out of the market. I can't ignore the fact that consumers (currently) utilize us for free, said Russ Shaw, Skype's general manager for mobile.

Still, one cannot assist but wonder how the users will react when faced with a double fee for mobile VoIP calls.