New hybrid VoIP in Europe?

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One of the most interesting rumors from CeBit 2007 in Hannover (Germany), is the entrance of Vodafone into the VoIP ecosystem.
Starfish is the Vodafone project code name and it should allow customers to use the most famous IMs (MSN, Yahoo, AOL) and make VoIP calls via Skype with a cellular phone. At the moment though, nothing is sure – said Jan Holzberg, a Vodafone manager. They still don’t know if Starfish will “ever launch”, let alone its details and costs.

Starfish could be defined as a kind of hybrid system: mobile-gateway link is performed on a voice channel, like normal GSM calls. Outside of gateway, call is forwarded in VoIP via internet. A similar system, here in Europe, is used for Skype calls by H3G X-series, although X-series customers have access to high-speed Internet too.

So is the move by Vodafone a way to save GSM bandwidth? Is a normal data connection suffiecient for Skype? Is this the newest European trend to join VoIP in mobile network?

Skype’s 171 million users are a very desirable pie for everyone. Mobile companies are showing they are very interested in the VoIP market…but did Vodafone find the winning strategy?
Well, we’ll see!