By Alie Sonta Kamara
Microsoft says it is going to shut down its Skype video-to-video call service on May 5, 2025, after two decades of service to millions of global users.
This change will impact both free and paid Skype users, but not Skype for Business.
The parent company says Skype users will have the option to move to Microsoft Teams Free, which offers many of the same core features and more.
“If you don’t want to use Microsoft Teams Free, you can export your Skype data,” it adds.
Microsoft flags the streamlining of its free consumer communications offerings to easily adapt to customer needs as the reason why it is retiring Skype.
Skype, a Luxembourg-based software entity, was introduced in the year 2003.
As a portmanteau for its name, the word “Skype” is directly derived from the phrase “Sky Peer to Peer”.
It was originally designed to enable PC-to-PC voice calls.
This shutdown is going to affect 300 million monthly users and 40 million daily ones globally.
