China a bit closer to VoIP (update)
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It seems that China decided to loosen its VoIP rules a bit. One company, China Netcom, has been granted by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) to conduct limited trials of the technology, but full licenses won’t be given out until 2007. So far, China banned the use of VoIP and people found using SkypeOut or other SIP calls lost their internet connections as a result.
In fact, China Netcom belongs to the state superstructure, China Telecom. It was created in 2002, after that a official state decision to split China Telecom into two different companies. China Netcom, besides becoming the second largest fixed line and broadband Internet access provider in China, operates in the South part. China Telecom keeps Beijing and the North part of China.
During the testing period, VoIP is reported to be charged at fixed fees, said NewsFactor which picked up the press news. Each telephone is required to pay a certain monthly fee, including fees for both domestic and international long-distance calls. For overseas business, the company will depend on the network of Hong Kong-headquartered Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., which previously inked a partnership with Skype.
In early March, China Netcom had started to test Wi-Fi dual mode mobile phones made by Silicon Valley company Paragon Wireless.
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UPDATE: It was too good to be true. China is not that close to allow voice-calling softwares enter its Internet zone. Wang Leilei, CEO of Chinese internet portal group Tom Online, which has a joint venture with Luxembourg-based telephony provider Skype, told the Financial Times that its government would not issue any licenses for computer-to-telephone calls until 2008.
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Mar 21, 2006 | By Nuno
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