Here is an announcement (in Japanese) of a partnership between Skype and Fusion Communications Corp., currently the provider of Fusion IP-Telephony in Japan. The Japanese PSTN numbering plan already allocates the 050 dialing prefix to VoIP service providers like Fusion Comm. For the Fusion-Skype partnership, Fusion will provide this gateway. Whether the service will be SkypeIn as we know it or something with per minute charges is less clear, given this Dow Jones Newswire report on the Fusion press release and/or a machine translation of the original press release. Wireless Watch Japan (subscription required) has a longer report with details on Fusion Communications and it's parents, and on the existing Fusion IP-Phone service. It also makes the (hopefully false) assumption that Fusion-Skype services would look like existing Fusion IP-Phone service rather than like SkypeIn:
"costs for the Fusion IP Telephony package are set at 8 yen for three minutes from fixed lines and around 16 yen/minute via mobile phones (2 yen cheaper than NTT's rate); international calls run at 8 yen/minute. The Fusion IP monthly service fee will be 3,360 yen (Skype prices should be comparable). Like its NTT Com counterpart, the service will undoubtedly launch to business users first with a modified consumer package to follow later."
Time will tell. The service is expected to launch by fall.
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