Microsoft-owned Skype's been slow to respond to Google Hangouts, but it's getting there in the end - a new blog post on Skype's site elaborates on plans to introduce full, free (this used to be premium and only on desktops), group video calling to mobile platforms in the near future. Including Windows 10 Mobile. Of course, this will also be dependent on your bandwidth and the speed of your smartphone, but in theory the software will be there for you at some point in 2016.

From the Microsoft blog post:

Ten years ago, NASA’s Stardust mission successfully brought back interstellar dust from a comet and the cloud existed only in the sky. That same year, Skype launched a new innovation – free video calling. Yes, it really has been a decade since Skype changed the way people connect with their loved ones. 6 years ago, we innovated again with one-to-one video calling on mobile phones. Today, we are excited to announce the next evolution – group video calling on Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows 10 Mobile. To get a sneak peek, pre-register below.

...A lot has changed since 2006 when Skype was only available on computers. Now, over 750 million people have downloaded Skype on their Windows Phone, Android device, iPhone and iPad, meaning that Skype is one of the most popular free apps ever on the iTunes Store and Google Play Store [and built into Windows 10]. You can now use Skype on Skype.com, Outlook.com, Xbox, Windows 10 Mobile and collaborate on Office Web Apps. We’ve also brought you other ways to enjoy video with video messaging, real-time speech and instant message translation and group video calling – where we’ve seen a 10x growth in less than 2 years.

To celebrate 10 years of video calling, get ready to welcome group video calling on Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows 10 Mobile – everywhere, completely free. We’ll be rolling out this new feature to our hundreds of millions of mobile users in the coming weeks, but if you want to preview before everyone else, hit the link below, provide us with some details and we’ll do the rest. Thank you! 

Pre-register now!

'Coming weeks' is a little vague, and may just refer to the preview programme, plus no doubt Android and iOS will get priority again, but we should still see group video calling built into 'Skype video' on our Windows 10 Mobile devices by the middle of 2016. Which could be fun!