Fergie's Tech Blog

China to Block VoIP for Two Years

Justime Lau writes in The Financial Times:

China will not allow paid-for calls between computers and conventional telephones for at least two years, according to the head of Tom Online, the Chinese internet portal which has a joint venture with Skype, the internet telephony company.

In the clearest indication so far of when charged telephone services based on the "voice over internet protocol" system will be launched in China, Wang Leilei, Tom Online's chief executive said the government "is not going to issue VoIP licences until 2008".

The news will be a disappointment to Skype, which told the Financial Times in November that it was in talks with Chinese telecoms operators which it hoped would clear the way for the launch of its computer-to-telephone service, dubbed SkypeOut.

posted by Fergie @ 3/21/2006 06:17:00 AM