Yahoo Inc. announced on Monday that it is offering free conference calling to users of its Yahoo instant-messaging system and web-telephone calling services.

Teaming up with Vapps - voice over Internet Applications - the companies unveiled a new service called ConFreeCall which will be available for download through Yahoo Messenger, allowing for up to 500 simultaneous participants per call, according to Vapps.

Vapps plans to offset the cost of free conference calls by offering related premium services, such as call recording, playback and live operator support for arranging calls.

Yahoo currently has nearly 80-million users on its text-based Messenger system.

Yahoo Software