Telefonica announces new VoIP app

Telefonica, the owner of O2, has launched its new voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service TU Me with many predicting it could act as a direct competitor to Skype in the years to come.

Currently, TU Me is available across all its territories and for all iPhone customers with a strong emphasis on its user interface and its cloud hosting, rather than price.

At the minute the new service is free in terms of keeping in touch with other TU Me users, although Telefonica hasn't promised to keep it free, while a further Android version is on the horizon as well as the potential of desktop versions.

Technology magazine the Register writes: "Telefonica won't say if, and what, it's going to charge for TU Me.

"That will depend on what the other service providers do, and if the company's vision of a layered future proves accurate."

According to the website, in future mobile network operators will be reduced to "wireless bit-pipes" much like fixed Internet Service Providers are currently.

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