FCC to Consider VoIP 911, Universal Service Fund Next Week

During its Open Meeting on May 19th, the FCC will consider two critical issues:

• Proposed rules and E911 requirements for IP-enabled service providers



• a comprehensive review and proposed rules on the Universal Service Fund (USF).

http://www.fcc.gov

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Deutsche Telekom Reaches 6.7 Million DSL Users

Deutsche Telekom added 600,000 DSL lines in Q1 2005, bringing its total number of DSL subscribers to 6.7 million. In Germany, the company now has 6.4 million DSL lines, of which 500,000 are resold by competitors. T-Online has also positioned itself as a full-package DSL provider in Germany since February 1, 2005 by marketing the DSL line together with an Internet access and hardware components.


Some additional highlights from Q1:

• Deutsche Telekom's net revenue increased by 3.5% year-on-year, from EUR 13.9 billion to EUR 14.4 billion. Group EBITDA was up 6.3%, from EUR 4.6 billion to EUR 4.9 billion compared with prior-year quarter.



• Revenue in the Broadband/Fixed Network segment decreased; however, the decline in the loss of market share in the local and national long-distance markets slowed down.



• The total number of telephone lines (including ISDN channels) is now 56.6 million, down from 57.9 million a year earlier.



• The number of mobile subscribers rose by a further 1.5 million during Q1, around 1.0 million of which were recorded at T-Mobile USA, giving the company a total of 78.9 million mobile customers across its various groups.

http://www.telekom.de

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Packet8 Extends its E911 Availability

Packet8 announced that the Enhanced 911 (E911) service it offers its VoIP and videophone subscribers is now available in 2,024 rate centers covering 43 U.S. states. Launched nearly one year ago with support from NENA, the National Emergency Number Association, 8x8's E911 service automatically routes calls and computer-based "screen pops" of caller information to emergency personnel at local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs).


The company said that unlike "911" services marketed by some other VoIP providers, whereby a call to 911 is intercepted by the VoIP provider and forwarded to a regular, non-emergency telephone number, Packet8's E911 call is routed as 911 emergency traffic and is accompanied by caller information.
http://www.8x8.com
http://www.nena.org

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Cegetel and neuf to Merge

Citing the need for critical mass in the highly competitive French market, neuf Telecom (formerly LDCOM) announced plans to merge with Cegetel's fixed line division. The combination would create France's second-largest fixed-line telecommunications operator with annual turnover of EUR 2.8 billion ($3.6 billion) this year.


As of the end of March, neuf telecom had 540,000 ADSL customers.
Cegetel currently has about 338,000 ADSL customers. The other major players in the competitive French broadband market include Iliad's Free with 1.21 million ADLS customers, incumbent France Telecom with 3.43 million customers, Tiscali, Club Internet, AOL and Tele2. In the competitive market, 8 Mbps services are currently offered for EUR 15 per month.


The new Neuf Cegetel aims to have more than 4 million residential customers, including 2 million ADSL lines, by 2007. The combined company will offer "quadruple" play services, including Internet access, VoIP, TV-over-DSL and Wi-Fi access, over an ADSL2+ network. The company also aims to capture 20% of the enterprise market by 2007 and to become the leading provider of wholesale services.


Both Cegetel and neuf operate their own national fiber networks, each exceeding 22,000 km.
http://www.cegetel.frhttp://wwww.neuf.com

• In January 2005, neuf telecom passed a major milestone in delivering broadband services throughout France with the deployment of a network connecting 3,000 cities in 18 months.



• In November 2004, neuf launched neuf TV, a digital-quality TV over DSL service offering over 70 channels. The company will shortly be launching ADSL2+ services.



• Alcatel is a supplier of DSL equipment to neuf and Cegetel.



• neuf telecom is using Cisco equipment for the extension and expansion of its network to support local loop unbundling and to facilitate triple-play over ADSL to residential customers. Cisco's 7600 Series routers, Catalyst 3000 Series switches and Cisco IOS network infrastructure software are used to provide the QoS-enabled multi-service network, supporting intelligent video distribution using dynamic multicast.



• In September 2004, Redback Networks announced neuf's deployment of its next-generation SmartEdge platform. The shift to the SmartEdge platform represents an evolution from neuf's existing Redback SMS 10000SL broadband subscriber management systems.

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UTStarcom Unveils VoIP CPE

UTStarcom unveiled a family of customer premise equipment (CPE) for both the residential and enterprise markets, including VoIP analog telephony adapters (ATA), integrated access devices (IADs), ADSL gear, and multi-function gateways. The new lineup includes:

• VoIP Analog Terminal Adapters (ATAs) that offer two FXS voice ports, each supporting a separate, independent phone number; call control provided via Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) or Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP); and a PSTN Lifeline.




• A VoIP Gateway designed for the interconnection of legacy equipment at enterprises, regional offices, hotels, campuses, and apartment buildings. The call control is provided via SIP or MGCP. Three models are offered -- eight VoIP ports; 16 VoIP ports; and 32 VoIP ports. The VoIP ports can be FXO ports for connecting to an existing PBX or PSTN network.




• UTStarcom's ADSL CPE supports both full-rate ADSL (8 Mbps downstream / 1 Mbps upstream) and G.lite (1.5 Mbps downstream / 512 Kbps upstream). UTStarcom's CPEs; remote management and firewalls;



• new Multi-Function Bundled CPE designed for residential, small-sized LAN, and SOHO customers. These offer multi-mode ADSL2/2+ modems with four Ethernet LAN ports and integrated 802.11b/g Wireless LAN capability.

Primus Telecommunications has selected UTStarcom's iAN-02EX VoIP Analog Terminal Adapter (ATA) solution for use with its Lingo broadband phone service.
http://www.utstar.com

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Microsoft Offers Wi-Fi Protected Access 2

Microsoft added support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). WPA2 confirms that a PC's wireless software is compatible with the IEEE 802.11i security standard. Building on the protections of the earlier Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) specification, the new Wi-Fi Alliance standard offers the advanced data encryption mandated by the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 specification, by which many government agencies and enterprises must abide. WPA2 also helps healthcare organizations meet the privacy requirements for personal medical information required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).


In addition, the software update adds support for Wireless Provisioning Services Information Element (WPS IE). WPS IE allows wireless Internet service providers (ISPs) to migrate to secure Wi-Fi hot spots by enabling support for both unsecured and secured Wi-Fi networks on a single network infrastructure during the migration.
http://www.microsoft.com

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Bell Canada to appeal CRTC VoIP decision

Bell Canada will appeal the decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to regulate prices for VoIP services provided by Canada's established phone companies, including Bell.


Canada is the first major industrialized nation to regulate retail rates for Internet telephony.


Bell Canada said it was unfair that only VoIP services offered by incumbent local telephone companies such as Bell to be price regulated, while others, such as the large incumbent
cable companies, will be free to offer services and bundles unencumbered by price regulation.


"IP is a disruptive technology that is changing the telecom
industry and the way it enables the Canadian economy. The Commission has misunderstood this new competitive paradigm in what may turn out to be an historic mistake with significant consequences," said Lawson Hunter, Executive Vice-President and Chief Corporate Officer, BCE and
Bell Canada. "There is no incumbency in VoIP," concluded Mr. Hunter. "In a new market where barriers to entry are virtually non-existent, no one - including foreign companies - should have a regulatory advantage."http://www.bell.ca"IP is a disruptive technology that is changing the telecom
industry and the way it enables the Canadian economy. The Commission has misunderstood this new competitive paradigm in what may turn out to be an historic mistake with significant consequences," said Lawson Hunter, Executive Vice-President and Chief Corporate Officer, BCE and
Bell Canada. "There is no incumbency in VoIP," concluded Mr. Hunter. "In a new market where barriers to entry are virtually non-existent, no one - including foreign companies - should have a regulatory advantage."

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Canada to Regulate VoIP as a Local Service

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that VoIP should be regulated when used as a local telephone service. The CRTC said its overall aim is to create regulatory conditions that allow competition to grow. As each telecommunications market becomes sustainably competitive, CRTC would then refrain -- or forbear -- from regulating that market. Ultimately, the CRTC aims to eliminate price regulation in local telephone service, including VoIP, in Canada.


"We believe that VoIP represents a key moment in the evolution of local exchange telephone services," said Charles Dalfen, Chairman of the CRTC. "This is precisely the moment when Canada needs a regulatory framework that will provide the quickest road to competition."


The decision also means that the CRTC will not regulate computer-to-computer (peer-to-peer) VoIP services which reside solely on the Internet.


Some key parts of Canada's VoIP regulatory framework:

• VoIP Service Provider Registration: All local VoIP service providers that are not operating as Canadian carriers are to register with the Commission as resellers, as a condition of obtaining services from a Canadian carrier or other telecom service provider (TSP).




• Numbers and LNP: All LECs providing local VoIP services are required to implement and follow local number portability (LNP) requirements. Local VoIP resellers, like resellers of circuit-switched services, are able to obtain numbers and number portability from any number of LECs in the marketplace, and are not unduly constrained by the lack of direct access to either. VoIP service resellers would be permitted to obtain numbers directly from the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA).




• Directory Listing: ILECs are required to provide complete directory listings to each subscriber. CLECs are required to provide the telephone numbers of their subscribers to the ILECs for that purpose. Given the Commission's determination that local VoIP services should be regulated as local exchange services, the Commission considers that the same reasons for requiring ILECs to provide a comprehensive directory of local telephone numbers in each local calling area, and for requiring CLECs to provide their local listings to ILECs for that purpose, apply in the case of local VoIP services. The Commission does not consider that there is anything specific to local VoIP services that would justify modifying the existing rules for ILECs and CLECs, nor does it consider that there is anything specific to local VoIP services to justify imposing new obligations, either on local VoIP resellers or on ILECs, with respect to local VoIP service providers' directory listings.




• Equal Access to Networks: An equal access obligation was originally applied to ILECs in order to ensure that competitive IXCs would be able to provide services to their customers on the same footing as the incumbent IXCs. The Commission later extended the equal access obligation to CLECs to prevent limiting competition through exclusive agreements between CLECs and IXCs. A number of parties to this proceeding submitted that equal access should not be required in a VoIP environment, arguing that a dissatisfied VoIP customer could choose from another VoIP provider, or could subscribe to a circuit-switched offering, in order to obtain more satisfactory service. The Commission considers that maintaining the equal access obligation on LECs providing VoIP service is consistent with the principle of technological neutrality. In the Commission's view, it would be inappropriate to relieve LECs offering local VoIP service from providing equal access when their circuit-switched competitors are subject to the obligation. Indeed, as ILECs are migrating their circuit-switched networks to IP, to relieve them of their equal access obligation with respect to local VoIP services, would allow them ultimately to abandon the obligation entirely. The Commission considers that the possibility of a LEC conferring undue or unreasonable preference with respect to access to its networks continues to be a valid concern and further considers that consumers should continue to have options by being able to select IXCs, when selecting VoIP service from a LEC. Accordingly, the Commission determines that the existing equal access obligation will apply to LECs providing VoIP services.




• Customer Winback Rules: The Commission has considered winback rules to be necessary and appropriate to prevent anti-competitive behaviour from ILECs. The Commission considers that, absent the winback rules, the ILECs could use their incumbency advantages to win back local VoIP customers as they could use to win back circuit-switched customers. However, the Commission ruled that it is not necessary to apply winback rules for VoIP services to cable incumbents.




• Access for the Disabled: The Commission ruled that VoIP service providers should address issues regarding accessibility for the disabled to IP services and ensure that applications and technologies are being developed. However, it views these as important issues which require further investigation and is seeking public input.




• Access for Hearing Impaired: The Commission concludes that local VoIP service offerings must function with the existing Message relay service (MRS) system and the related TTY equipment. MRS allows hearing-impaired subscribers to communicate with others connected to the PSTN by providing operator intermediation. A hearing person who wishes to communicate with a hearing-impaired person dials a toll-free number to be connected to an operator who contacts the hearing-impaired user and relays the communication using a teletypewriter (TTY). Conversely a hearing-impaired person, with a TTY, contacts a hearing person through the relay operator by dialing 711.




• Consumer Privacy: All the existing regulatory requirements designed to protect customer privacy apply to all local VoIP service providers, to the extent technically feasible. The Commission directs all LECs to comply with these requirements, to the extent feasible, and as a condition of providing telecommunications services to local VoIP service providers, to include in their contracts or other arrangements with the service provider, the requirement that the latter make the privacy safeguards in question available to consumers, to the extend technically feasible.




• ILEC VoIP Tariffs: When ILECs provide local VoIP services in their incumbent territories, they are required to adhere to their existing tariffs or to file proposed tariffs as appropriate, in conformity with applicable regulatory rules.




• Non-dominant Carriers: To provide local exchange services in Canada, non-dominant Canadian carriers must fulfill the requirements of a CLEC.




• Contribution to Subsidize Rural Phone Service: Revenues associated with VoIP services are contribution-eligible.




• VoIP over Unbundled Loops: DSL service providers that are not CLECs and that obtain unbundled loops, connecting links and co-location from the ILECs, are now permitted to provide VoIP services, in addition to retail Internet service.




• Equivalent quality of service: VoIP competitors petitioned the Commission asking that any quality of service enhancements introduced by the ILECs and cable carriers in their capacity as the underlying Internet access provider, such as packet prioritization, should be made equally available to all VoIP service providers, on an unbundled basis. The Commission considers that VoIP service providers should be encouraged to develop their own quality of service improvements and capabilities, which can best be provided through facilities-based competition or through a service provider subscribing to TPIA or an unbundled loop. The Commission considers that mandated unbundling of quality of service improvements available from broadband providers would result in competitors having less incentive to invest in order to provide their own managed VoIP service. The Commission further considers that ISPs, DSL service providers and CLECs have the ability to offer their own forms of managed VoIP service through TPIA, DSL over unbundled loops, wholesale high-speed IS or through facilities-based competition.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2005/r050512.htmhttp://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-28.htm

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