The Skype chief executive told a technology conference in Silicon Valley the company was working with PayPal on the design of the new service, which will effectively make Skype a competitor to companies like Western Union.
Many of the 171 million Skype users use the system to reduce costs in keeping contact with overseas friends and family, a group seen as strong potential users of international money transfer, Mr Zennstrom said.
The payment service, which is called Send Money, is expected to be formally unveiled in about a month. The tie-up makes sense – both Skype and PayPal are subsidiary units of online auction goliath eBay.
PayPal is already the most common way Skype users pay for premium services (like making calls to traditional phones).
Overseas observers are saying the money transfer service is likely to be one of a growing number of applications to be offered through Skype.
Third-party software developers are understood to have been encourage to look at Skype as a platform where voice is just one service. The company wants developers to build other services on top of the system, and has already announced a series of premium business services to be offered.
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