Highlights

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Skype being banned in China

In these couple of days many were discussing the sudden news that Skype is being banned in China. The news started on Dec 30, 2010 and quickly spread, becoming a heat topic of discussion.

The actual impact is not yet known. However, for sure under the "one country two system" policy, Hong Kong and Macao should not be affected. But, communication with friends or relatives in China will probably soon experience interruptions of Skype service. Interestingly, a few days ago Skype users had already experienced interruptions, as some "supernode" "technical problems" had caused Skype service temporary down. I believe that the incident is actually related to the China Government's new law.

From the legal point of view, China has made it illegal to use Skype in the country. This certainly restricts the growth of Skype business in China. The rationale is obviously - to protect the huge and fast growing VOIP market in China. In comparison, Skype can be 10 times cheaper than the other local telecom providers.

Technically, it may be difficult to shut down Skype completely in China, especially the Skype PC to PC calls. Even China can do it, there are still other options and people are always able to find ways to work around. Still, there are much inconvenience as nowadays people and business depend so much on Skype commmunications.

Let's keep an eye on the future development. Too bad!!

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