It is being reported here, there and everywhere that Orange & O2 are having a bit of a strop about Nokia’s integrating Skype with their new N97 smartphone handset.

It seems that the two operators are worried that the bundling of a voice-over-ip application with a smartphone would lose them voice-call revenue on their networks. The supposition being that users would opt for ‘cheap’ ‘unlimited’ data plans. From where I stand, ‘cheap’ ‘unlimited’ data plans are rather ‘invisible’ and I can’t really see voip being a lot cheaper in most cases except where the phone could be used with a non-network WiFi connection. Perhaps this is what actually worries O2 and Orange.

The cost of data plans also vary from country to country and both Orange and O2 are international operators so presumably there must be markets where their data plans are currently particularly cheap.

Naturally, if O2 and Orange choose to block the use of the N97 or it’s voice over ip abilities, they risk upsetting their customer base who may move to other operators such as T-Mobile who are said to be more ‘voip-friendly’.