Mar 24

Telecom Egypt loses revenue, government helps by banning international VoIP

Posted in: skype, Today's Chili, vodafone, VoIP

Egypt calls international VOIP illegal, Skype users ask 'What about an eagle?'

State-owned Telecom Egypt hasn’t been doing well lately, last week announcing 2009 voice call revenues dropped 13 percent from the year prior. It’s not hard to see cheap/free VoIP calling as a primary reason, and so what do you do if you’re a state-run commercial enterprise trying to make a profit? Why, you make the competition illegal of course. Egypt has specifically banned mobile international calls made through VoIP, immediately affecting the country’s three mobile carriers (Vodafone, Mobinil, and Etisalat). However, according to the AFP the law states that “all international calls must pass through state-owned Egypt Telecom,” meaning at-home Skypers would also be out of luck. For its part Skype believes that ” it should be up to consumers, not regulatory authorities, to choose the winners and losers in the communications space.” We’re guessing its customers would agree, but we’re still waiting for their response — damn lag.

Telecom Egypt loses revenue, government helps by banning international VoIP originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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