Skype co-founder visits Taiwanese suppliers to strengthen partnerships

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 10, 2006. It reports that Geoffery Prentice, a co-founder and director of Skype Technologies SA's new marketing division, recently arrived to assess the feasibility for Skype to open a testing and verification facility in Taiwan.

Skype is the world's biggest supplier of Internet-telephone software. Since its establishment in 2003, the company has signed up more than 70 million users registering for its services, or roughly 150,000 registrants per day. Its amazing growth pace has outshone veteran Internet giants such as eBAY, Yahoo! and AOL. It is estimated that the company will pose a formidable threat to traditional telecom-service providers that depend on conventional telephone protocols for voice communications.

Skype currently has a number of suppliers in Taiwan. These Taiwanese suppliers control 90 percent of the world market for networking and telecommunications equipment used in personal computers.

At the request of Taiwanese suppliers, Skype will hold a technology forum in Taiwan in mid-2006. The company will also consider the possibility of opening a verification and testing center in Taiwan.