China will crack down on what it called illegal Internet telephone providers - Illegal Skype

China will crack down on what it called illegal Internet telephone providers, according to a circular from the Chinese government seen on Friday that could potentially affect Internet calling service Skype.

The statement, from the powerful Ministry of Information and Industry Technology, did not mention any carriers by name.

It called for a crackdown "on illegal VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) telephone services" and said it was collecting evidence for legal cases against them.

Skype, partly owned by web retailer eBay Inc , has been growing in popularity among Chinese individuals and businesses to make cheap or free international phone calls.

The circular, dated Dec. 10, did not say what amounted to illegal services and did not name any VoIP providers it considered to be breaking the law.

Spokespeople for the ministry and the ministry's office gathering information for the campaign did not answer telephone calls on Friday. Skype could not immediately be reached for comment.

The move appeared to be aimed at protecting three government-controlled Chinese phone carriers -- China Telecom , China Unicom and China Mobile -- which provide the bulk of China's telephone services.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on Thursday quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying VoIP services could only be provided by the big three Chinese operators.

Spokespeople for China Telecom and China Unicom did not answer phone calls on Friday. A spokeswoman for China Mobile, reached in Beijing, referred calls to the firm's Hong Kong office. Attempts to reach the Hong Kong office were not successful.

VoIP calls allow users to make international calls for much less than commercial providers, or even for free if both parties are using VoIP. Many businesses that use VoIP services to cut down on their international telephone costs could lose access to the cheaper alternative.

Skype, which has about 124 million users worldwide, hopes to raise about $1 billion in an initial public offering expected next year.

KA-SAT make VoIP calls over Internet in good quality and at low cost

Currently called KA-SAT and scheduled for launch in third quarter 2010, the satellite will be configured with more than 80 spotbeams. A network of eight gateways managed by Eutelsat, and which will provide access to KA-SAT, will form an integral part of the new infrastructure.

"By combining a satellite equipped with more than 80 spotbeams and a network of ground stations, this new programme will deliver more capacity than any other satellite programme deployed worldwide," Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat chief executive, said. "These new resources will in particular benefit internet service providers, enabling them to extend broadband to consumers and enterprises in areas unserved by terrestrial networks."

Eutelsat will locate KA-SAT at 13° E where it will join three large HOT BIRD Ku-band broadcasting satellites. This collocation will enrich the range of consumer entertainment services offered from the Group's prime neighbourhood by enabling satellite homes to receive television in the Ku-band and new rich media services in the Ka-band through a single dual-frequency antenna. In advance and in preparation of KA-SAT, Eutelsat is using Ka-band capacity on its HOT BIRD 6 satellite for a new consumer broadband service, launched in Europe at the end of 2007, and called Tooway.

The service is operated by the Group's broadband subsidiary Skylogic, in cooperation with ViaSat. Tooway uses ViaSat's well established SurfBeam system. KA-SAT is the European equivalent to ViaSat-1, a high-capacity Ka-band broadband satellite ordered by ViaSat to serve the North American market and planned to launch in 2011.

ViaSat and Eutelsat are cooperating closely around ViaSat's Ka-band SurfBeam networking system and a similar wholesale business model that works through ISPs, telecommunications companies and pay-TV platforms to serve subscribers. KA-SAT marks a material step forward in multi-spot satellites.

In particular, 1stgen multi-spot satellites using ViaSat SurfBeam technology and operated by WildBlue and Telesat have already reached more than 300,000 Internet subscribers since their launch in 2005. As a standard used by several tens of millions of cable customers worldwide, DOCSIS, together with powerful new Ka-band multi-spot satellites can facilitate important economies of scale to enable satellite-based consumer Internet services to achieve costs and bandwidth comparable to ADSL.

KA-SAT, coupled with ViaSat's next generation SurfBeam, will deliver a total throughput of over 70 Gigabits per second. Based on the EUROSTAR Eurostar-3000 platform, KA-SAT is the 17th satellite commissioned by Eutelsat from EADS Astrium. Designed to operate for 15 years, it will have a launch mass of 6.15 tons and a payload consuming more than 11 kW of power, with solar arrays generating 15 kW of power.

The Ka-band satellite — known as KA-SAT — launched on 26 December. It has a capacity of up to 70Gbps. KA-SAT has been designed by Eutelsat to provide broadband coverage for Europe, northern Africa and some parts of the Far East and is expected to be fully operational for residential broadband subscribers from late in the second quarter of 2011.

Eutelsat Communications has selected EADS Astrium in January 2008 to deliver its first satellite operating exclusively in Ka-band frequencies. The satellite will form the cornerstone of a major new satellite infrastructure program that will expand capacity for consumer broadband services across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, while providing new opportunities for local and regional television markets.

NEWSA satellite that will be used to provide residential broadband connections for Europe, northern Africa and some parts of the Far East has been successfully launched, French satellite company Eutelsat announced on Monday.

Eutelsat will not offer the service directly to consumers, instead selling the service wholesale to providers that will then resell the connections. Pricing for the service is currently unavailable.

The satellite will provide download speeds of up to 10Mbps and upload speeds of up to 4Mbps for Eutelsat's Tooway consumer broadband service, a company spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Wednesday. There is potential for higher speeds in the future, the spokesperson said. Until KA-SAT, Tooway provided a maximum download speed of 4Mbps.

On 26 November Avanti communications successfully launched its own broadband satellite — Hylas 1 — capable of delivering up to 10Mbps download and 2Mbps upload broadband to around 350,000 homes.

Hylas 1 is due to begin serving customers in Europe — with the exception of Scandinavia — with satellite broadband connections for from £25 per month in the first quarter of 2011.

Second broadband satellite - good news for VoIP?

Second broadband satellite good news for VoIP?

 

Millions of people may get the chance to access VoIP services for the first time after the launch of Europe's second dedicated broadband satellite.

Created by communications firm Eutelstat, the 6.1 tonne Ka-Sat was fired into space on top of a proton rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Sunday (December 26th).

The company hopes the spacecraft will deliver high-speed broadband to more than one million homes using 82 spot beams linked to ten ground stations.

Eutelsat chief executive officer Michel de Rosen stated the new technology could allow access to areas currently deprived of internet connectivity, via a system similar to that delivering access to almost half a million US homes.

"These new resources will in particular benefit internet service providers, enabling them to extend broadband to consumers and enterprises in areas unserved by terrestrial networks," he said.

The news comes just one month after the launch of Europe's first broadband satellite - Hylas 1 - which the European Space Agency hopes will provide super-fast broadband across the continent.

DSL, cable, 3G/4G wireless, or satellite, all integrated into one seamless, enterprise-wide network managed by Hughes

Hughes Network Systems, a dealer in providing broadband satellite networks and services, announced the availability of new managed services suite for enterprises that integrate voice, data and video over affordable broadband.

The ActiveQoS technology it is based-on enables enterprises to deliver enhanced performance of converged voice, data, and video applications over affordable broadband networks for any number of sites.

Until now companies need to employ a MPLS network in order to realize such benefits of converging their data, voice, and video traffic in a common network but Hughes' (News - Alert) ActiveQoS changes the perception that Voice over IP could not be integrated with video and data over affordable broadband. Hughes ActiveQoS is a new network optimization technology from Hughes that enables 'MPLS-like' performance over high-speed, affordable DSL and cable broadband connections.

ActiveQoS is able to see through real-time latency sensitive apps such as heavy voice and video data streams by utilizing several optimization methods that facilitate it to adapt to traffic demands.

The company also claimed that its transport architecture is flexible – a WAN solution can be tailored to each customer's requirements. Enterprises with hundreds or thousands of locations can select the most cost-effective and available broadband solution for each site - DSL, cable, 3G/4G wireless, or satellite, all integrated into one seamless, enterprise-wide network managed by Hughes.

The company claimed that its suite of services and solutions for large enterprise provides unmatched security, performance, and reliability, making the network a strategic asset for meeting business goals. It offers a range of broadband products, services, and solutions to enterprises in all business sectors with unmatched expertise in retail, restaurant, hospitality, retail petroleum, utilities, oil and gas, education and the lottery industries.

Hughes' suite of managed solutions helps to deliver on strategic objectives with Hughes' Converged Broadband Architecture (CBA). Hughes CBA, with ActiveQoS, delivers superior performance, high reliability, and assured security to distributed enterprise solutions. Hughes' CBA incorporates sophisticated edge intelligence enabling the delivery of enterprise-grade private networks over broadband technologies.

VoIP call from space

Cisco has made the first ever VoIP call from space through its latest satellite technology. By installing an internet protocol (IP) router onboard an already orbiting spacecraft, the networking specialist was able to make the connection without the use of any ground-based infrastructure.

This new capability means VoIP users will be able to communicate more efficiently and cost-effectively than on the existing network, which relies on terrestrial hubs to relay information, the firm claimed.

Steven Boutelle, chief executive officer of Cisco internet routing in space, said the breakthrough will enable a "truly" mobile worldwide network that will allow people to connect however and wherever they want.

This technology has the potential to transform how government agencies and commercial organisations use IP-based network services to accomplish their missions and business objectives," he added.

Europe's first dedicated broadband satellite Hylas-1 was launched last month with the aim of providing high-speed internet access to even the most remote areas of the continent.