Hutchison 3 Group started what will surely be a growing fire at 3GSM in Barcelona by announcing it formally plans to put Skype on 3G handsets throughout its 3 empire. Trials have been ongoing in Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden, the UK and Italy, and additional, broader trials are now planned.

"Skype on 3G smartphones, datacards and other devices is a service that our customers will be thrilled to use. With Skype they can talk for as long as they want with their friends around the world. It will be a great addition to our existing wide range of multi-media mobile broadband services. We believe Skype is yet another reason for people to choose 3 - customers demand a choice of innovative services and we are delighted to be working with Skype to deliver that, said Christian Salbaing, MD Europe Telecommunications at Hutchison 3. "We look forward to offering it to our subscribers in our key markets starting with Sweden and then in our other markets as soon as user trials are concluded."

The announcement, while certainly not the first putting Skype on a mobile device, adds a bit of luster to Hutchison's 3 brand. As the MobHappy crew point out, a lot of questions come to mind regarding how Skype will be deployed, what pricing looks like, etc. Look for a review of "cell-fi" announcements here later today.