The new calling subscriptions offer a flat monthly rate for international calling to landline numbers in specified countries of Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Users can make as many calls as they like to the landlines, as long as they don't go over 10,000 minutes per month.

Subscriptions range in price according to the country or region. There are cheaper options if you are happy to settle for 200 minutes or 400 minutes of calls (instead of 10,000) as well. The plans are without contract and start from $3.95 per month.

"Skype was founded on the principle of making free voice and video calls available to people all around the world. And now we're making it even easier for the Skype community to call their friends and family who are not yet on Skype," said Skype Head of Business Development, Asia Pacific, Chris Lewis.

"For example, for just $5.95 a month, you can call your grandmother in China whenever you like, talk for up to six hours at a time, and not worry about how much it's costing you. Your grandmother doesn't need to understand the internet. You just use your Skype subscription to make the call and she just picks up the phone. And if you have friends and family spread over the world, you can reach them all for as little as $14.95 a month."

Customers purchasing a 3-month or 12-month subscription before June 1st 2008 will receive a further 33 percent discount, the company says.

See: www.skype.com/ go/subscriptions