“Talk is cheap and getting cheaper” proclaims a BBC article on VoIP and Skype. Not in the UAE it isn’t, nor in other countries that ban internet telephony. But as users find myriad ways to get around the blocks, it’s the short-sighted telcos who will ultimately lose out.
Who can forget these clever Chinese men who ran up US$1.25 million worth of calls in the UAE before being apprehended? They’re an extreme example, but the reality is that in a heavily restricted, very expensive market, people will be attracted to piracy. Just look at P2P software, music and film piracy.
But when products start becoming affordable and accessible, such as with iTunes’ music store, pirates evolve into paid customers. Skype itself isn’t free if you want to call international landlines, but it’s cheap and convenient enough that people are happy to pay those charges.
By trying to ban VoIP, Middle East telcos such as the UAE’s Etisalat have effectively cut themselves out of the game. There are already tens of thousands of people using Skype and similar applications in the UAE alone. Skype.com is blocked, but people download the installer in the freezones. They get it from general software download sites. They get it via P2P. They get friends and family to email it to them. They get it on their laptop while overseas.
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