China now blocks VOIP calls for two years
China is continuing with their policies of censoring online services to protect their own business interests. Google made news when they had to censor their online results in compliance with the wishers of the Chinese government.
The latest news in claims that the country has now banned free Internet telephone services for at least two years. The Financial Times reported that this step has been taken by the government to protect its own fixed telephone line business.
Wang Leilei, chief executive of Chinese internet portal group Tom Online that provided VoIP services in the country in collaboration with Skype confirmed the news and said that the government would not issue any licenses for computer-to-telephone calls until 2008.
This latest move by the Chinese government would disappoint many VoIP companies around the world considering China is one of the biggest online markets in the world. Skype is expected to be one of the worst hit companies.
China Telecom in fact claimed that the services provided by Skype were illegal. Such a move by China became apparent when a US technology group Verso Technologies admitted that they sold technologies to block voice technology to an unnamed major Chinese telecoms firm.