Skype joins banned in China–YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter

I have some friends in China and using Skype is convenient to communicate. GigaOm says China is making moves to block Skype.

Will Skype Be Banned in China?

By Ryan Kim Dec. 30, 2010, 9:10am PDT 1 Comment

China has reportedly moved to block private VoIP services such as Skype, and will only allow China Telecom and China Unicom to offer such services, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It’s unclear when this will take effect, or if it means the outright ban of services such as Skype. China previously banned outside VoIP companies in 2006 for two years to help its homegrown companies compete ahead of the 2008 Olympics. Skype currently partners with Chinese Internet company Tom Online and said in a statementvthat users can still access Skype through Tom.com, though it declined to speculate on future access being blocked.

Doing business in China requires government support if you are big.

Either way, it’s a blow for Skype in particular, and VoIP providers in general, and underscores the difficulty of doing business in China for Internet companies. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are already blocked in China and Google had to move its servers to Hong Kong.