Hype Over Skype

Telecom companies such as British Telecom and AT&T have suffered from reduced consumer spending amid the downturn -- and now a rejuvenated Skype could add to their woes.

eBay ( EBAY - news - people ), which admitted that it paid over the odds for the Voice Over Internet Provider, particularly since it doesn’t offer many synergies with the auction titan's existing businesses, could be on the verge of selling it back to the very people it bought it from. Scandinavian entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who sold Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion, are preparing to buy back the business, backed by some $1.0 billion in funding from private equity companies Warburg Pincus, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Forbes investor Elevation Partners, according to TheNew York Times.

A sale would be a potentially worrisome development for telecom providers. Though under eBay the business has grown nearly eightfold to around 40.0 million users, Skype has not soared as much as expected. "The spinning back of Skype could allow the new owners to focus on the core business of Skype instead of integrating it into eBay," said Gartner analyst Leif-Olaf Wallin. "The initial purpose of Skype was to provide low-cost communication to both consumers and small- and medium-sized companies."

Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell thinks the new owners would be keen to push its product with businesses, especially paid for services. Skype has announced a number of recent developments, including the forthcoming use of Skype "lite" on BlackBerry Bolds and Curves. But taking it to the next level in order to take advantage of mobile platforms fully would require more investment.

The current economic environment could also be advantageous for enticing businesses keen to optimize costs to Skype.