Acquisition to improve VoIP call quality

Skype has purchased VoIP provider Sonorit for about $27m in eBay stock. The transaction includes Sonorit's US subsidiary Camino Networks.

Sonorit and Camino specialise in technology to enhance the quality of VoIP conversations, which is widely considered to be inferior to that offered by copper wire-based telephone connections.

Venture capital backed Sonorit was founded in June 2005. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has additional offices in Sweden and Denmark. Neither Sonorit or Camino Networks operate public websites.

Since its fouding in 2002, Skype has grown to become the world's largest VoIP provider. Ebay acquired the company last September for about $2.6bn in cash and stock.