China Telecom Corp is expected to launch a Hong Kong broadband telephone service to mainland telephone numbers, the South China Morning Post reported. By using a broadband telephone box and connecting it to the Internet and a traditional telephone device, users can make calls to the mainland without paying international rates. In turn, mainland telephone users will be able to reach broadband telephone users in Hong Kong or overseas and be charged the price of a local call. It will be the first time that a mainland fixed-line number service will be sold officially outside China. Broadband telephone services in China are under tight control from the Ministry of Information Industry, and voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) and international calls through broadband telephones have been strictly forbidden.
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