CEO: Mobile VoIP Won't Be a Huge Hit

The CEO of one of the world's largest mobile brands said Tuesday that VoIP on mobile phones would likely be as commonplace as it will become on PCs due to what he called 'technical issues.'

Issues such as the resolution of IP addresses of mobile users have not been completely ironed out, and mobile data remains quite expensive, Hamid Askhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International, said at the 3GSM World Congress.

While mobile VoIP will no doubt eventually become a reality, he said he just didn't believe it would be the hit it has been on PCs.

Askhavan is not alone: Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström has also blamed technical issues and price for the reason why a mobile version of his VoIP software has made it into user's hands. This was echoed by Eric Lagier, the company's hardware and software business development chief.

Only one wireless provider currently offers some type of Skype service: British wireless provider 3 offers it as part of an unlimited data plan, but the software uses a voice channel to place the VoIP call.