Skype dumps per-minute charges for per-call pricing

Skype is playing with its fee structure in interesting ways that seem to reflect changes in its own cost structure. We wrote last month about the $30/year unlimited calling plan. Now, for everyone else, Skype is moving from a per-minute charge for SkypeOut calls--the ones terminating on the PSTN--to a flat per-call charge. In the U.S., that's 3.9 cents per call, as opposed to about 2.1 cents per minute. For European users, the SkypeOut structure is more complicated: a flat 3.9 euro cent set-up charge for premium subscribers, a base rate of 1.7 euro cents/minute for everyone else. Outside the U.S., Canada and the U.K., there's no unlimited plan. Given the possibility (probability?) of some very very long calls for only 3.9 cents, it would appear that Skype is now being charged for termination on a per-call rather than per-minute basis; otherwise, the red ink would flow like blood in a Peckinpah movie. And if Skype's getting that deal from telcos, won't other VoIP players follow? Any little birds out there willing to confirm or deny?

For more information about Skype's new pricing:
- read this press release [1] from Skype