Ofcom, the official telecom regulator for the U.K., published its approach to new voice services, including Voice over Broadband (VoB) phone services.
Ofcom said its approach is intended to minimize the regulatory burden associated with the creation and delivery of new voice services while ensuring that providers benefit from fair and effective competition in the infrastructure markets upon which they will depend. Ofcom's actions include:
- Establishing a telephone numbering plan for new voice services, allowing providers to offer their customers geographic phone numbers (beginning with 01 or 02)
- Making it easier to switch from a traditional service to a VoB service, for example, without having to change telephone number.
- Enabling VoB providers to offer their customers a non-geographic phone number beginning with a new code, 056, which would not be linked to any location and could be used anywhere in the country.
- Initiating a public consultation on the appropriate level of consumer protection measures which should apply to new voice services. Traditional fixed-line telephony services comply with regulatory conditions stipulating near-guaranteed access to essential services such as 999. The consultation asks to what extent these requirements would be proportionate and appropriate in the case of internet-based voice services and how consumers should be informed of the new services' capabilities. The consultation will close on Monday 15 November 2004.
- The publication of a consumer guide to new voice services
Ofcom Chief Executive, Stephen Carter said: "Broadband voice services are a new and emerging market. Our first task as regulator is to keep out of the way."http://www.ofcom.org.uk
- Last month, Germany's official Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP) ruled that local network call numbers for Internet telephony services may only be allocated to customers within their relevant local networks. RegTP issued orders providing locality-based local network call numbers to two VoIP service providers, Sipgate and Nikotalk. RegTP noted that other Internet telephony providers have started offering their customers local network call numbers independently of their place of residence. However, RegTP said this procedure "distorts the geographic information of the local network call number. Furthermore, it depletes the scarce quotas of call numbers of the relevant local networks and as such endangers the overall national numbering plan. This would put those competitors at a disadvantage who adhere to legal stipulations." RegTP is providing (0)700 numbers for use as locality-independent personal call numbers. RegTP is also examining the provision of a separate subrange for national subscriber numbers for VoIP services.
- In May 2004, Ofcom announced a number of proposals intended to increase sustainable and effective competition in broadband data, content and voice services. The proposals focus on: (a) Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) to allow operators to target investment and to develop scale in the creation of new and competitive high-speed data services based in the UK's local broadband exchanges. Ofcom welcomes BT's commitment to that process and its announcement of a 70% reduction in its charges to operators leasing unbundled shared local loops. (LLU is a process by which the dominant provider's local loops are physically disconnected from its network and connected to another communications provider's network. This enables competing providers partly or wholly to lease a customer's access line and provide voice and/or data services directly to end users over that access line.) (b) the establishment of a Telecoms Adjudicator, independent of regulator and industry, intended to oversee the swift development of LLU processes, and © a framework, pricing approach and a technology, evolution path for Wholesale Broadband Access, enabling all operators to plan for long-term and large-scale investment.
