Canadian carrier Telus has been busy leading up to the summer. Recently, they announced the launch of the LG Optimus Black to spearhead a new partnership with voice-over-IP service provider, Skype. Now Telus customers will be able to buy Skype calling credits directly through their existing account, and make long-distance calls for cheaper than usual.
On top of that, Telus also knocked down their voice and data roaming rates for pretty much all non-U.S. countries. Making calls on Telus while in western Europe, Mexico, and Oceania are now 25-50% lower at $1.50/minute, while calls made from the Middle East, Caribbean, Latin America, China, India, and Africa are down 17-38% to $2.50/minute. Data used in all of those areas is now down to $10/MB, which is a 60% drop from their previous rate. By comparison, Rogers charges $2.50/minute for western Europe, and $4.00/minute elsewhere, and $50/MB, but I suspect those rates will drop soon enough.
The LG Optimus Black runs Android 2.2, has a 5 megapixel camera on the back (plus secondary front-facing camera), 4-inch NOVA display, and is powered by a 1 GHZ OMAP 3630 processor. Wi-Fi b/g/n with mobile hotspot is included, along with Direct support, so you can do device-to-device transfers over the standard when supported. The usual stuff like Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G are also included, but you can take a look at our hands-on video over here for a closer look.
In the U.S., Verizon has been cozy with Skype for awhile, and this Telus deal is just as promising for Canadians. While carriers up here might not be under the same amount of network strain and as in need to offload traffic through VoIP, there are plenty of remote areas in Canada that have less-than-awesome coverage which could use a calling-over-Wi-Fi alternative. Rogers already offers equivalent service using UMA/GAN, so fingers are crossed for a bit of a price war.
There aren’t any details on when we’ll see the LG Optimus Black in stores, but Telus’ new roaming rates will be going into effect tarting June 27.