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China Communication Firm Asks US Company to Block Calls

Shanghai Telecom Co has approached a U.S network management system maker and asked for a system that could detect and block telephone calls over the internet. The Chinese company has more then 6.2 million landlines, and plans to use Mountain View`s Narus system. The system will improve Shanghai Telecom`s ability to block unwanted Internet calls that connects to its phone lines.

Use of Internet calling, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is growing quickly across the world, threatening the business models of some telephone companies. In China, the government has sided with carriers and allowed them to block VoIP services that compete with the carrier`s own products. A recent report in the Financial Times quoted an executive with a Hong Kong company as saying that the government would not issue new licenses for computer-to-phone calling services until 2008, although the Chinese government and major phone companies have refused to confirm that account.

Steve Bannerman, a spokesperson for Narus, said carriers in several countries, including Egypt, are using its software to block gateways that connect VoIP calls to the phone network. VoIP-blocking software from another U.S. company, Verso Technologies Inc., is being tried out by an unidentified Chinese carrier.