Can the carriers/telcos really create a Skype-killing replacement?

That's the question raised by Om Malik in "Global Telcos Plotting a Skype Rival?" and will be one of the topics of discussion on tomorrow's Squawk Box podcast. Om starts:

AT&T, in conjunction with some 10-15 incumbent telecom carriers — British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and NTT among them — is plotting to launch a Skype competitor, according to a research report issued this morning by ThinkEquity analyst Anton Wahlman.

And goes on from there at some length into the theories, timeframes and capabilities of the rumored network. While I haven't had time personally to contribute directly to the conversation, others have:

• Tom Keating dismisses this as utter hogwash and pure speculation
• Jim Courtney (Skype Journal) sees this as much ado about nothing
• Andy Abramson notes the connections to GSMA and ITU
• Eric Lagerway thinks it could be exactly what the industry needs but that the telcos will probably screw it up
• Carolyn Schuk believes that we'll see this skype-killer from the telcos about when elephants fly
• Dameon Welch-Abernathy (PhoneBoy) says the carriers need to get back to their roots (and embeds a great 1980 Bell commercial)
• Alec Saunders doubts the carriers can do it and thinks the things he said four years ago are now coming true

What do you think? Please join us on tomorrow's Squawk Box[1] (May 8, 2008) at 11am US Eastern time to discuss/debate the matter. (Or, if you can't join us, feel free to leave a comment here.)

[1] Note that to join a Squawk Box call, you do need to have a Facebook account and install Iotum's FREE Conference Calls Facebook application.

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