Chinese Regulators to Investigate Illegal’ VoIP Services
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, will look into illegal VoIP services in the country, the country’s telecom regulator said in a notice last week. The move is expected to make services like Skype unavailable in the country, some analysts said.
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Investigation of illegal VoIP services would be a priority for MIIT going forward, the notice said. The agency will work with other agencies, collecting information about illegal VoIP service providers and usage in the country, it said. VoIP providers need a license to operate in the country. The notice would make illegal Internet phone services other than those provided by China Telecom and China Unicom, which is expected to make services like Skype unavailable in the country, according to several China-based telecom law blog postings. Skype has offered Chinese users a joint service with Hong Kong-based Internet company TOM Online since September 2007.
China hasn’t banned Skype, a spokesman said. Users in China currently can access Skype via TOM Online, which offers local versions of Skype for Windows, Mac and mobile platforms like Symbian and Windows Mobile, he said. The company won’t comment on speculation that the service would be blocked in the near future. There’s some confusion about this as a result of a recent Skype outage that affected Chinese users, he said. Services have been stabilized and the company is sending its users credit vouchers via e-mail. The voucher offers some 30 minutes of free calling to landlines.
Rules could be difficult to enforce if implemented by MIIT, since Chinese Internet users could simply download versions of Skype or other VoIP programs from websites outside China, some Chinese analysts said. Some criticized the move as a measure to protect China’s state-owned telecom carriers. In a separate release, Skype said it has launched its iPhone application that brings video calling to mobile users around the world over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Available to download from the Apple App store, the new application allows iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users to make or receive Skype video calls for the first time.