NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - AOL will soon launch a new service to users of its AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) software that lets them make free phone calls over the Internet, according to news reports Friday.

Called AIM Phoneline, the service offers each user a local phone number for free and lets them take incoming calls from any phone, said the reports.

The company will offer an upgraded version for $14.95 a month that will let users make calls to all local and long-distance numbers as well as 30 foreign countries.

The service will appear as a dial-pad drop down at the bottom of the AIM window.

AOL believes that some of its millions of AIM users will opt for the service over a traditional phone line, according to USA Today.

In May, AOL will also introduce a service that competes with News Corp.'s (Research) MySpace - called AIM Pages - that interfaces with AIM, according to the paper.

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