p2pnet - rss feed: China two-year VoIP ban
p2p news / p2pnet: China will block paid-for VoIP calls between computers and conventional telephones for at least two years, says Wang Leilei who runs Tom Online, the Chinese portal which has a 51% and 49% joint venture with eBay’s Skype.
"Revenue [from SkypeOut] is not important to us because we have not put in a lot of cost," states Wang, quoted in the Financial Times.
Skype currently offers a free computer-to-computer telephony service to its 9m users in China, although calls are limited to five minutes, says the story, going on, "It also launched a free computer-to-telephone service about a month ago, which has signed up 10,000 users a day."
Wang said Tom Online, controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, "would consider acquisitions to lift its user numbers, but, "declined to comment on widespread rumours that Tom Online would merge with its rival Sina, which has 180m users worldwide."
Last year Tom and Intel teamed up for the Intel i-Cafe Music Studios under which, "budding musicians can publish their songs directly to the Web via Tom Online’s music platform, called Wanleba."
Also See:
51% and 49% - Simplified Chinese Skype, September 5, 2005
Financial Times - China ‘to block VoIP calls for two years’, March 20, 2006
Intel i-Cafe - China, Intel, open Net cafes, November 30, 2005
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