The account registration has been suspended for Jego services by China mobile, in less than a month after it was launched as a competitor to Skype.
A global focused China mobile subsidiary, China Mobile International declared that it suspended the new account registration for Jego during the weekend and also disabled Jego-to-Jego video and voice calls for customers who registered with a mainland China number and are located in mainland China.
The company posted a message in App Store and Google Play, regarding the suspension. It said that the suspension is due to the optimization of the product and the system. It also informed the users that they will notify them related to the further changes.
Sina Tech report today said that the China mobile has unplugged Jego because of its service, which is borne from the overseas subsidiary, not the mainland Chinese company itself, and this has triggered alarm over boundaries set by the government on Internet-based telephone services in China.
Sina Tech was informed from a source, close to China Mobile that China Mobile International’s senior management are all based in Hong Kong, and are mainly in charge of overseas telecommunications, therefore the products they develop can’t necessarily be used in mainland China. What was unexpected was the overwhelming domestic response to the product, which would have influenced the VoIP scene significantly.
It was reported earlier that Jego features messaging and Jego-to-Jego calling, but VoIP calling on Jego from China (if signed up with a Chinese number) to a Chinese landline or mobile phone isn’t available – down to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s restrictive impositions on VoIP calls.
The Sina Tech also said that Jego service is not meant for the mainland China market. Though the registrations have been suspended, the apps are still online and China mobile might be looking a way to save the service. Its announcement on its site says: “We will be pleased to notify customers of Jego official launch.”
Jego service is an attempt from China mobile, world’s largest carrier with more than 700 million subscribers. It is one of the messaging app like WeChat, Viber, Skype etc… The app which is available in Apple Store and Google Play can be downloaded at no cost.
Jego offers features like free call, text chats between Jego users and also HD video call and the ability to call any China-based number for just $0.022 per minute which is cheaper than Skype.