Today, Skype declined to comment on whether the firm's service would be blocked in the future, but said that TOM Online remained available.

"Skype is not blocked in China," a company spokesman said in an e-mail reply to questions.

According to media reports from several news services, including the Associated Press and (Agence France-Presse), MIIT has also set up a telephone hotline to take reports of VoIP violations, telling citizens that it is waging a "campaign to crack down on illegal Voice over Internet Protocol phone services."

Earlier today, for the and iPod Touch to let users make VoIP calls over 3G networks.

China Unicom, one of the two companies that will be allowed to offer VoIP service under the new rules, is Apple's exclusive carrier partner in China.