Barely 3 months after eBay sold most of Skype to an investor group ( led by Silver Lake and includes Joltid Limited and certain affiliated parties, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the business at $2.75 billion. eBay retains an approximately 30 percent equity investment in Skype), Skype managed to make an historic deal with Verizon Wireless to allow Skype calls on their network. I haven’t seen any comments from eBay yet,  but this is the move they should have made a long time.

Previously, Skype Mobile could only be used over Wi-Fi, but as of March 25th you’ll be able to make those called on VZW’s network. If you think about it, this is actually industry changing. Finally wireless operators are realizing that they can’t hold back the inevitable, ultimately all communications will be IP based.

It will take a while though before data-only plans will be available. Wireless operators will still only sell data on top of voice plans (and locking you in long 2-year contracts). That being said, more and more we will see pre-paid taking off in the United States. If you do the math, it’s cheaper to buy your phone outright and just top up your account when you need it. In Europe, pre-paid is not seen as the “poor man’s cell phone plan”, it’s seen as the “smart choice”.

Can’t wait to try out Skype Mobile tomorrow !