• Tom Online comes to Skype's aid in China (ChinaTechNews.com). Skype's closest partner in China is negotiating with China's telcom operators on Skype's behalf.
• US Verso Tech confirms sale of Skype-blocking software in China (Forbes). How do you say "negotiating power" in Mandarin?
• Microsoft roars into VoIP market (Computerworld). "Industry observers say the catalyst for this is Skype..."
• Radio Shack to offer a range of Skype-related Products (The New York Times). Skype to be featured in holiday catalogs and displayed in stores with special "kiosks."
• ETel: Makers Wanted! (O'Reilly Radar Blog) "...looking for participants in the ETel Fair at our Emerging Telephony conference (conference is Jan 24-26, San Francisco; Fair is the evening of the 25th)".

Thanks to contributor Rick Hultz,a telecom and technology analyst who has followed Skype since it's beginning.

Richard Zhao Liang and Bill Campbell.

Although the worldwide VoIP market is booming and Skype has wooed millions of users, its road to China is not so bright as in other parts of the world, especially for revenue.
There are four kinds of VoIP services: phone to phone, phone to PC, PC to phone, PC to PC. In China, the phone to phone and phone to PC are clearly defined in law as the basic telecom services that no one besides these six services providers can provide: China Mobile, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, China Railcom, and China Satellite Com.).

The Ministry of Information Industry (MII), according to the notification no. 413(2005) on July 18, will continue to ban commercial PC-phone VoIP services, except for a trial at four cities countrywide: two for China Telecom at South China (Shenzhen and ShangRao, Jiangxi Province), while two for China Netcom at North China (Changchun, Jilin Province and Tai’an, Shandong Province). During the service trial by Shenzhen Telecom (a subsidiary company of China Telecom), the price of VoIP phone is about 2.5 cents (US) for both domestic and international calls.

A joint venture with TOM Software will not help Skype generate revenue in China. Skype would require a joint-venture with China Telecom or China Netcom. But without clear commercial benefits to those two fixed line carriers such a joint venture is unlikely to occur.

Skype’s only source of revenue from mainland China will only be from SkypeIn and SkypeOut originating from outside of China. And none of that revenue will flow to Skype’s Partner TOM Software. So the marketing approaches shown below might be suitable for Skype into China:

First, continuously fight for an increasing market share at IM and PC to PC market, competing against QQ, MSN, YIM, Google Talk, Sina UC, and NetEase PP.
Second, cooperate with those smartphone/handset/pda hardware vendors for solutions like USB-plugable PC phones.

Skype’s competitive advantages come from its voice quality, encryption, and ease of use.

See original post here.

From China Tech News:

China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) reiterated that it still has not formulated guidelines concerning VoIP businesses and that many current VoIP businesses could potentially be illegal.

Companies like Netease (NTES), Tom Online (TOMO), Skype, and Tencent have all started VoIP services in China. And the 263 Group and HL95 have also recently entered the sector.

The VoIP sector offers great financial rewards for companies because voice communications on the network can be as much as ten times cheaper than traditional fixed-line phones.

MII says that it is still testing VoIP and forbids illegal "phone cafes" from opening in China. It also offered no clear date on when it will issue guidelines for businesses to operate legally.