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"In June, China Mobile\u00A0quietly launched\u00A0Jego\u00A0as a competitor to Skype,\u00A0but in the same month, the carrier abruptly suspended account registrations for the service.\r\n\r\nThere were plenty of speculations as to why China Mobile International \u2013 a Hong Kong-based global-focused China Mobile subsidiary \u2013\u00A0made such a move back then. But now,\u00A0just five months after the inexplicable incident, China Mobile has relaunched Jego, as\u00A0Reuters\u00A0reports.\r\n\r\nThe CTO of China Mobile International,\u00A0John Jiang, told Reuters that the June release of Jego was a prototype and &amp;quot;demand had overwhelmed the network.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nJego is an attempt from China Mobile \u2014 the world\u2019s largest carrier, with\u00A0more than 700 million subscribers\u00A0\u2014 to answer the growing usage of messaging apps like\u00A0WeChat,\u00A0Viber\u00A0and\u00A0Line, and Microsoft-owned\u00A0Skype,\u00A0with an offering of its own.\r\n\r\nAside from features like free calls and text chats between Jego users, Jego gives users HD video calls and the ability to call any China-based number for just\u00A0$0.022 per minute. That\u2019s cheaper than Skype, which charges\u00A0$0.026 per minute on a pay-as-you-go basis, in addition to a $0.049 connection fee.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe\u00A0earlier reported\u00A0that domestically Jego features messaging and Jego-to-Jego calling, but VoIP calling on Jego from China (if you\u2019ve signed up with a Chinese number) to a Chinese landline or mobile phone isn\u2019t available -\u00A0due to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology\u2019s restrictive impositions on VoIP calls.\r\n\r\nHowever, the new version of Jego lets anyone outside of China with a smartphone and a data connection get free roaming incoming calls on a China Mobile number if you retain it and bind it with Jego for $0.99 per month. If you don't have a China Mobile number, you can also rent one for $4.99 per month, which will let you receive unlimited free calls on Jego.\r\n\r\nTo bind your China Mobile number into Jego, all you have to do is register on Jego with your China Mobile number, and then subscribe to the service on the Jego homepage.\r\n\r\nJiang told\u00A0Reuters that Jego users will get to save money on roaming calls, and the app will let them &amp;quot;communicate as if they were in China&amp;quot; -- a hint that China Mobile is trying to retain its users even when they head overseas. As many free calling apps sprout up that also tout cheap overseas calls, China Mobile is entering the space to compete against them by offering more convenience to its existing customers.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Jego\u00A0| iOS\u00A0|\u00A0Google Play\r\n\r\nHeadline image via\u00A0AFP\u00A0/ Getty Images\r\n\r\nDisclosure: This article contains an affiliate link. While we only ever write about products we think deserve to be on the pages of our site, The Next Web may earn a small commission if you click through and buy the product in question. For more information, please see our\u00A0Terms of Service."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/11/18/china-mobile-relaunches-jego-its-skype-competitor-that-offers-free-incoming-calls-overseas/>