MS ties up with MCI on low-cost telephony

Washington: Microsoft and telecom group MCI announced a partnership for internet telephony allowing low-cost global calling around the world.

The companies are the latest to enter the market for calling using personal computers. Those in the market include Skype, recently purchased by eBay, along with Google and Yahoo.

The new service will be available through Windows Live Messenger, the upcoming successor to MSN Messenger, the instant messaging service, which has more than 185 million active accounts around the world.

MCI and Microsoft are testing the service in the US, and expect to deliver the PC-to-phone calling capabilities to France, Germany, Spain and Britain in the coming weeks.

Subscribers will be able to place calls to and from more than 220 countries with rates starting at 2.3 cents per minute to the US, Canada, Britain and Western Europe during the beta testing period.

"Our new Windows Live PC-to-phone voice feature requires a partner that shares our vision for connecting people globally," said Blake Irving, corporate vice president of the MSN Communication Services.

"We are thrilled to work with a proven global technology provider like MCI to provide the bridge between PCs and phones with high-quality voice services that enable people to communicate more easily, conveniently and inexpensively. Our customers are going to love this, " he added.