Skype users can no longer purchase individual credits for international calls. Microsoft requests that they purchase a SaaS subscription for this purpose.
Microsoft has quietly discontinued the option to buy individual credits for Skype. There was no communication from the company: users had to discover for themselves that they could no longer add credits to their accounts. Microsoft confirms to TechCrunch that this move is permanent.
Mandatory subscription
Skype allowed you to buy a local phone number through the app. That way you could use Skype to call abroad in a relatively inexpensive way. This is now only possible if you take out a monthly subscription. Skype thus has to follow the broader strategy of parent company Microsoft, which is trying to get as many users as possible on cloud subscriptions.
For Belgian phone numbers, for example, such a subscription costs 3.63 euros or 7.87 euros. If you want to be able to call anywhere in the world, you pay 15.73 euros per month. A subscription is only required if you call mobile or landline numbers via Skype. Calls between Skype accounts remain free.
Giving and taking
Skype is one of the pioneers of Internet calling. The app has been around since 2003 and has been owned by Microsoft since 2011. Today, Skype has lost much of its relevance. It has lost out to competition from WhatsApp, Zoom and other popular video calling apps. That Microsoft launched Teams in 2016 five years after taking over Skype didn’t exactly help the platform either.
Microsoft is being rather secretive about exactly how many people are still using Skype today. According to the latest known figures, there would still be 36 million. From time to time, Microsoft makes another reminder that Skype still exists. Recently, users received an unexpected gift from Microsoft: ads have been replaced by AI features. In return, Microsoft wants to push them toward a SaaS subscription.