[Asterisk-Users] Voip in the EU

[Steve Kennedy]

On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 07:38:15PM +0000, Iain Stevenson wrote:

> The problem with the Ofcom consultation as I see it is that it seems to be 
> regressive wrt to the position now being taken by the FCC.  There are 
> probably not many more than 250,000 VoB users worldwide so now is not the 
> time to impose significant market constraints.
> The new EU regulatory framework actually imposes very few constraints on 
> new service providers in emerging markets such as VoIP being based as it is 
> on the concept of "significant market power (SMP)".  I don't think any 
> carrier has SMP in VoB so the real issue is the extent to which Ofcom 
> tinkers in the interpretation of the rules.

Not on the end-users, but as a Communications Service Provider what
differentiates you from a regular POTS Communications Service Provider ?
In the UK it's all covered by the Communications Act and a "telco" (as
they were) has to meet 21 obligations under the Act.

SMP refers to companies such as BT in the UK (who dominate the market),
and potentially Mercury in the past, as these are specifically regulated.

> Unfortunately they seem to be focusing on the "red herrings" of emergency 
> service support and lawful intercept - neither of which are of much 
> interest to users.   Fixed and mobile services already provide acceptable 
> emergency access.  The real issue is the umbrella topic of Universal 
> Service Provision and what the impact of VoIP will be on that.

Emegency service support isn't a red herring, it's an obligation for
fixed line operators (and definately to residential users). Currently
VoB is mainly geared at people with DSL or cable modem access i.e. they
already have a phone line (this is definately true for BT's service
they recently introduced, you MUST be a residential customer with an
existing phone service, no QoS guarantees etc).

Lawful intercept is also a "must" both as part of the Comms Act and RIP
Act (fixed and mobile operators have facilities to do this, a VoIP
provider shouldn't be treated differently).

> The tone of the Ofcom invitation to the VoB briefing focused on issues that 
> could limit the market rather than promote it.  Let's hope that the VoB 
> briefing is followed up by some balanced and broad based consultation.

Ofcom is ensuring the Comms Act is adhered to ...

Steve

-- 
NetTek Ltd Phone/Fax +44-(0)20 7483 2455
SMS steve-epage (at) gbnet.net [body] gpg 1024D/468952DB 2001-09-19