Voice over Internet protocol, referred to as “VoIP” has truly revolutionised the way people and businesses communicate: talking to each other is cheaper if not free, families can see each other through video-conferencing even when separated by thousands of kilometers, games become more interactive and Web 2.0 social networks switch from the virtual arena to real life. Many of these VoIP capabilities rely on software in combination with a user’s Internet access to enable a wide variety of innovative new ways to communicate. These innovations have been rendered possible by a highly innovative Internet industry, and fostered by a sensible, light touch regulatory approach that rightly considered that VoIP services and applications would bring consumers all over Europe substantial benefits. If VoIP had been strictly treated as traditional telephony services, these innovations would not have been possible.

However instead of embracing the innovative potential that the continuing development of these VoIP services will bring, some policy-makers still prefer to limit this innovative potential, by rigidly trying to apply to network-independent VoIP the exact same technical obligations as have been applied for decades to traditional telephony. By doing so, those policy-makers are not only ignoring the inherent different technical characteristics of VoIP but they are also denying their citizens its innovative potential.

Old telephony regulation should be reserved for those VoIP services offering a close replacement to traditional retail telephone services and where there is a risk of consumer confusion. Policy-makers should focus on ensuring VoIP users are informed when communicating over the Internet of any limitations such as lack of emergency calling and should not burden innovative services and applications with obsolete obligations!

Ensuring that consumers and businesses can continue to use the Internet to access lawful VoIP applications and services and devices is essential to promote choice, innovation and competition. VON Europe believes that a crucial challenge ofor policy makers will be to continue to facilitate innovation by companies who are developing new applications and services, including VoIP, delivered via the Internet.

Policy makers should ensure that consumers and businesses can continue to use the Internet applications, services and devices of their choice. Policymakers should resist any attempts, whether regulatory, commercial or competitive, to block or hinder unfettered access to VoIP (or similar technologies) and more generally to all legal Internet content, applications and services, including the underlying technology, and that prevents it from being utilised to its full potential.

Phone numbers, mobile Vs fixed, geographic Vs non-geographic…most national numbering plans, devised more than 30 years ago, are unlikely to be adequate to cope with new trends and developments. Location information of geographic numbers is a legacy from the Plain Old Telephony Services, when habits were not what they are today. In recent years, people have become more flexible, ready and wanting to move and travel at any time. Mobile phones are slowly overtaking fixed phones and calling your plumber happens more often than not on his mobile phone, whilst a call given to a specific number could be forwarded to anywhere.

Numbers, including geographic numbers, should be eligible to be allocated to any  provider or user, and be used by end users outside of the traditional telephone zones or other boundaries, including on a trans-national basis within the EU. VON Europe supports the view that geographical numbers are most suitable to open up VoIP to the mass consumers as consumers are highly familiar with those types of numbers and end user tariffs are the most transparent (or at least not less transparent than other types of numbers).