Powell Warns SBC on VoIP Termination Charges

FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell issued a public statement warning SBC Communications against imposing traditional tariff access charges on VoIP providers or to discriminate against its VoIP competitors. The statement was issued in response to SBC's new interstate connectivity service, known as TIPToP. TIPToP is a new SBC service that gives VOIP providers the capability to connect traffic to PSTN based voice services. Specifically, TIPToP provides switch port interfaces, which enable trunk groups, transport, SS7 Initial Setup (ISUP), and SS7 Transaction...

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Nokia Hails ETSI Agreement on Mobile TV

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has selected DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld) as the standard in Europe for mobile TV services. DVB-H leverages traditional broadcasting standards to enable the simultaneous transmission of multiple television, radio and video channels to mobile handheld devices. To receive DVB-H transmissions, handsets require an additional integrated receiver. Nokia welcomed the ETSI agreement and said it plans to bring a commercial mobile TV handset with integrated DVB-H to market globally...

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Germany to Issue "032" Numbers for VoIP

Germany's Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Posts (RegTP) published allocation rules for national VoIP numbers. The national numbers will use the "032" prefix and are defined like local numbers, but -- similar to mobile numbers -- are not linked to a particular locality. Telephone service providers can now apply to RegTP national numbers in blocks of 1,000. To give everyone a fair chance, all applications received by 10 January 2005 will be regarded as having been received at the same time. According to the plans, the first allocations...

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