"It is very unlikely that they will manage to shut Skype down," said Professor Kan Kaili at Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. "Skype is the market leader, but there is also MSN and Gmail Talk. The children of Chinese government officials, who are studying abroad, use these services to call home, so I do not think anyone is going to cut the lines. Even if they take a strict approach, such as getting local operators to block the broadband services of people who use Skype, people will still find a way around it," he added.