TELECOMNEXT: Yahoo! launches new VoIP client

LAS VEGAS--Yahoo! Wednesday unveils a new global version of its Yahoo! Messenger with Voice client in the U.S., introducing both new features and a new, more powerful voice engine. The new version includes Phone Out and Phone In options to connect the Instant Messenger VoIP service with the PSTN.

The company launched a new global beta version in December, but didn’t target its U.S. audience, said Jeff Bonforte, product manager of voice for Yahoo! in an interview at TelecomNext.

“We had to tune the service with our PSTN partners for termination, and we wanted to do that first, before launching it here,” he said. Yahoo! has about 10 voice partners, and uses different ones on a per-call basis, depending on quality and cost.

The new client runs on a voice engine from Global IP Sound, the Swedish company that also provides the voice engine for Skype.

Yahoo! prides itself on delivering a high-quality VoIP product, using codecs that it believes are better than the ones telcos use, Bonforte said. “When we connect to the PSTN, we fall down to their quality,” he commented.

The service allows customers to have up to five phone numbers for inbound calling, at $2.99 per month per number, and charges two cents per minute – just under Skype’s 2.3 cents per minute – for outbound calls to the PSTN. PC to PC calls are free.

The Yahoo! Messenger client includes free voice mail, which shows up as WAV or MP3 files in an email box, along with a contact search feature with presence information that makes it easy to find contacts and determine the best way to reach them immediately. It can support an advertisement, which the company will initially use to promote the VoIP service to Messenger users, he said. Ultimately, the ad slot gives it another means of revenue, however.

Despite its venture into the voice world, Yahoo! remains committed to its broadband partners, including AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon, Bonforte added. The new Messenger with Voice capabilities will be part of the Yahoo! branded broadand service the company provides with its telco partners.

“We’re not getting into their business,” he said. “The traffic we take away from them is probably offset by the calls they terminate for us. The difference would be a rounding error.”