Egypt Says No More Mobile Skype Calls
from the can't-route-around dept
Egypt has apparently decided that it doesn't like the idea of people making mobile phone calls that it can't track and/or that the state-owned telco can't make money off of. So it's banning all mobile VoIP calls. Apparently "fixed" VoIP calls are okay, which gets a bit confusing:"The ban is on Skype on mobile internet, not on fixed, and this is due to the fact it is against the law since it bypasses the legal gateway," said Amr Badawy, the executive president of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA).But what is the difference between the "mobile internet" and the "fixed internet" in real terms? If I use a laptop on a 3G connection... is that fixed or mobile? If I use a mobile phone on a WiFi connection connected to a DSL line, is that fixed or mobile? This just seems like a way to try to boost profits for the state owned telco with arbitrary rules.
Under Egyptian law, international calls must pass through a network controlled by majority state-owned Telecom Egypt, which this week reported disappointing earnings.
![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
This just in...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: This just in...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
interesting
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
mobile monitoring
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sounds unenforceable
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not new
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No it's pretty easy to understand
If the Internet is coming fom a fixed landline, even if it goes through wifi router- skype ok. (paying dsl company for Internet)
It's pretty straight foward, even if the reasoning behind it is not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yeah ... but...
Okay, how about this?
What if I use my 3G connection via a VPN Tunnel to my office which then goes out via a hard line?
What if I'm connected to a land line but I VPN over to a router that uses 3G ultimately for Internet/VoIP traffic?
Freedom
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Yeah ... but...
3g to vpn to hardline- ok, as the data would appear as regular traffic, not VOIP to the ISP.
Is the 3g router inside the country or outside? Inside Egypt probably not ok, outside, most likely ok, because Egyptian mobile companies really have no say over your use of other country's 3g network.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Yeah ... but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Just seems in future
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ten Dollars A Minute
I can see why the official state owned Egyptians would be upset by it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Egypt is a police state.
Apparently they don't have the tech to monitor Voip over 3g, sucks to be them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
and of course ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Freedom!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
vpn rules
http://strongvpn.com/aff/scripts/click.php?a_aid=skype&a_bid=ca14b048&chan=skype
Easy installation and nice support.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]