Tuesday, November 29, 2005 5:53 AM
by
will
Hope for Skype in China?
Briefly, Chinese market analysis firm Analysys says that
rumors of Skype's demise in China are greatly exaggerated. Or, at least, will prove unfounded in the long run.
Their thoughts:
News background:
An American company Verso Technology recently
released that they are doing a paid trial for a major telecom operator in China
to block VoIP calls made using Skype.
Quick analysis:
Although
Verso did not reveal the name of the telecom operator, it has become a public
secret that it should be China Telecom. MII had defined the P2P service like
VoIP provided by Skype as basic telecom service to defend the interest of
fixed-line telecom operator. And this provide China Telecom sufficient reason to
block Skype. But China Telecom's attitude towards Skype is proactive: they are
conducting trials to block Skype; on the other hand, they are actively preparing
strategies to face the challenge of various possibilities in the
future.
Our position:
Analysys International thinks that the
blocking is only a short term action even if it is confirmed. VoIP services have
rapidly occupied the market by its innate advantage, which reflect the gradual
change of users' communication habit and their further demand for lower
communication cost. This will pose great threat to traditional fixed-line
operators and force them to proactively transfer both in strategy and service
aspects. Therefore adopting cooperation strategy will be a more effective way to
face the challenge.
Let's hope they are right! Of course, if you want to read any more, you
gotta buy their report on the Chinese VoIP market. A bargain at only
US$2400. At prices like that, you might as well use China Telecom to
make your long distance calls and have done with it.