Innovation

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!