China Skype Hype: Doubtness & Fear

Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

China Skype Hype: Doubtness & Fear

So one of the big stories currently gurgling up is the fact that VoIP — specifically Skype — is being banned in China. TMCnet’s Stefania Vescusi summarized that situation yesterday.

Interesting however that just one day earlier, on 3/20, our own David Sims wrote the following:

The Beijing News is reporting -- Page 1, no less -- that “it is said that a company from southern China obtained the first VoIP service operation license as a pilot.”

Telecom carriers and virtual network operators will be able to apply for the license by 2007 when the country will fully open the market, but “experts from China’s Ministry of Information Industry, the industry regulator, expressed their doubtness.”

It’s not specified what they expressed their doubtness about.

(Sims' full article can be found here.)

Well the doubtness seems pretty clear now. I can just picture a high-ranking Information Ministry official at a press conference on Monday:

Q: “Mr. Minister! Any chance TOM Online starts offering Skype Out PC to Phone calling any time soon?”
A: “I have my doubtness.”

And there you have it. "SKYPE BANNED IN CHINA!"

It seems that any time a new technology comes along that threatens to rough up the status quo, you see the reaction that’s happening in China. (Of course, throwing a totalitarian government in the mix, as opposed to say, capitalist market forces, adds a certain different “flavor” to the recipe…)

This will all play itself out soon. Either the government and the carriers it’s protecting will reach an agreement with Skype whereby MONEY will change hands, with some of it finding its way into the pockets of various Ministry of Information officials, or else some home-grown Skype clone will suddenly appear as if from nowhere to say, “Hey check it out! We came up with a brand-new service that allows people on PCs to call their friends and families who only have phones.”

I’m sure we are still only at the beginning of this story.

I have no doubtness about it.



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