Skype & Tom Online Offer VoIP In China

Skype and Tom Online have announced that they are to offer a Chinese version of Skype’s popular VoIP service that will be branded as Tom Skype.

China has been hesitant to allow VoIP service providers access to their population as China currently highly regulated by the government, who allow only a few companies to offer VoIP services. This joint announcement is a big step forward for Skype and Tom Online, who are now able to build a customer base in China.

However, it must be noted that the annoucement was carefully coded, downplaying the VoIP call element of the Skype client and focussing more on it’s instant messenging capabilites.

“Working together will allow an even deeper level of integration between Skype’s award winning software and services with TOM Online’s over 70 mn wireless Internet users. The joint venture will leverage TOM Online’s mobile and Skype’s Internet communications expertise to further develop advanced communication and community features for mobile Internet platforms.”