EC seeks views on future regulation of VoIP

Clive Gringras Olswang

Published: 28 Jul 2004 16:35 BST

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VoIP has been hailed as one of the major applications of broadband Internet. VoIP describes the use of Internet Protocol to transmit voice calls over the Internet in packets of data (like sending an email) instead of connecting a call conventionally, over a single open circuit. Examples of VoIP services -- which come in different guises -- include Kazaa's peer-to-peer service "Skype" and BT Communicator. US provider Vonage recently announced plans to launch a service in the UK.

Such services are also referred to as voice over broadband -- or "VoB". Elsewhere, notably in the United States, where VoIP looks set to take off more swiftly than in Europe, regulators are also grappling with the issue. The UK regulator Ofcom is already consulting with industry in the forum of its recently formed VOB group.

Why are new guidelines needed?
The European Commission has issued guidance on VoIP in the past. This needs to be revisited in the light of the new e-communications regulatory framework, which came into effect in July 2003. The new framework, consisting of five directives, is designed to promote competition in the market for electronic communications services. The rules are intended to be as "technology-neutral" as possible. The question addressed in the Commission's document is how the various different types of VoIP offering should now be regulated. Compared to traditional fixed-line telephony, VoIP raises special issues, for example the ability of the emergency services to trace a 999 call to a particular location.

The consultation document acknowledges that VoIP services come in many "different flavours" and that new models are constantly evolving. A rigid classification for regulatory purposes is therefore inappropriate -- the regulators' approach will therefore need to focus on the nature of the service being offered. At one end of the scale are VoIP offerings which consist of, say, a software program to support voice communications on the users' PC (unlikely to be subject, on its own, to regulation). At the other end of scale there are services more akin to traditional telephony services. In between are different "shades" which would be subject to regulation to a greater or lesser extent.

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