AOL Tests Remote Access Service

Microsoft and telecommunications provider MCI have announced a multi-year partnership to offer software and services that will allow users to call from a PC to almost any phone in the world.

The move pits the two companies against rival Skype Technologies's SkypeOut service.

The Microsoft-MCI Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, MCI Web Calling for Windows Live Call, will be available as part of the upcoming successor to Microsoft Messenger that will be called Windows Live Messenger, the companies said in a statement Tuesday.

Microsoft introduced its Windows Live and Office Live Web-based services in November, and has heralded software services as a key new strategy.

Service Plans

Like SkypeOut, users of the Microsoft-MCI service will pay a fee to make VOIP calls from their PC to phones. Users will have to sign up for a subscription to the service. Users will receive one free hour of calls and will pay rates starting from 23 cents per minute to phones in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Western Europe during the beta testing period, according to the statement.

Final rates for the service will be announced in 2006, the partners say.

Under terms of the agreement with Microsoft, MCI will handle customer registration, terminating calls, customer support and billing for the service, according to the statement. Users will be able to purchase prepaid calling time from MCI in $5, $10, and $25 blocks for the service, it said.

The VOIP service is offered now in prerelease form, with subscriptions currently available in the U.S., according to the two firms. Microsoft and MCI expect to expand the PC-to-phone calling capabilities to include France, Germany, Spain, and the U.K. in the coming weeks, the statement says.