VOIP of the People

The “Skype Revolution” seems to have provided the  market push required to end a two-year wait for  The Federal Government’s policy document on Voice Over IP (VOIP) services. The report makes fascinating reading for corporates as well as consumers.

The document, entitled, “Examination Of Policy And Regulation Relating To Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip) Services” includes 49 submissions. These were examined by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Buried in the executive summary at finding 14 is the most telling issue for organisations and consumers looking to switch from PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) to IP and next gen networks (NGNs): “A key feature of emerging Internet-based services such as VOIP is that users can load an application or purchase a service that is separate from the underlying carriage service. This provides greater scope for services to be supplied from offshore, giving rise to concerns about the ability to enforce Australian law and its asymmetric application to domestically-based providers. This is a long-term issue which will be difficult to resolve without international cooperation.”

We read this to mean that a market free-for-all is in play and will be for the foreseeable future.

While no new legislation or regulatory systems are deemed necessary to enable the uptake of VOIP systems in the short term, thankfully the report does – in passing – make reference to QOS (Quality Of Service). QOS has often been seen as a major block to large-scale take-up for VOIP.

The report states: “It is proposed that the development of technology-neutral quality of service indicators that allow consumers to meaningfully compare VOIP services should be a matter for ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) in consultation with industry. “

Interestingly from the point of view of shareholders (and fleet users) of extant technologies, the document also states quite clearly that, while VOIP is being taken up in all areas: “A major media campaign is not proposed. It is proposed that implementation of this recommendation be a matter for ACMA to accommodate within its existing budget and activities (e.g. toolkits, fact sheets etc.)”

Have you taken up VOIP? Please take a few seconds to give us your experiences.

You can read the full report yourself here.

Related Article:

Traditional voice under threat as Aussie broadband market matures