Microsoft is discontinuing its pioneering online calling platform, Skype, from Monday, after more than two decades of service.
In February, Microsoft announced its decision to retire the platform founded by Scandinavian entrepreneurs and acquired by the US tech giant in 2011. It urged users to switch to Microsoft’s Teams app instead.
The service will no longer be available from Tuesday.
Skype was established in Luxembourg in 2003 by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and Danish entrepreneur Janus Friis. It was the first platform to offer free voice and video calls over the Internet, becoming especially popular for international communication by bypassing high phone charges.
At its peak, Skype had hundreds of millions of users monthly worldwide but has recently faced competition from newcomers like Zoom and WhatsApp.
