After Google, China guns for Skype

After having virtually forced Google to end its search operations in China, the government has trained its guns on Skype; China's ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT) said in a posting on its website that it will ban VoIP services in the country unless they are provided by state run telecom companies China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom.

Google was forced to shut down its China search engine early this year after it refused to bow to Chinese government demand to censor search results.

Although the ministry has not named any VoIP service provider, it is clear that the target of the notification is Skype, which operates in China through a joint venture with Chinese mobile Internet carrier TOM Online.

Other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as China's UUCall-a local Skype-like service, could also be affected since they offer chat services.

According to various media reports, the MIIT has set up a hotline asking its citizens to report VoIP violations.

The decision could come as a shock for Luxembourg-based Skype, which was planning to expand in the world's second-largest economy in a big way. A company spokesperson said that its services have not yet been banned in China.