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ECTA
responds to EU VoIP Consultation
By Tom Kiedrowski, Regulatory Affairs Manager, ECTA
Across the world the increasing availability of
Voice over IP (VoIP) services has raised the issue
how these services should be regulated, including:
whether they are caught by universal service obligations;
what numbering arrangements should be in place;
and what interconnection arrangements might be appropriate.
Here in the EU, the European Commission published
a 30-page information and consultation paper on
‘the regulatory treatment of Voice over IP
under the EU regulatory framework’ on 15 June.
The aim of the paper is to clarify how the new EU
electronic communications regulatory framework applies
to Voice over IP (VoIP) and the deadline for submissions
to the European Commission’s consultation
is 31 August 2004. In our response, ECTA broadly
welcomes the approach taken by the European Commission,
but we also highlighted a number of issues.
Under the new EU regulatory framework, different
providers have different rights and obligations
depending on their regulatory status: Electronic
Communications Services (ECS) providers are subject
to certain obligations mainly relating to consumer
protection, but their subscribers do not have the
right to port telephone numbers from a Publicly
Available Telephony Service (PATS) provider, nor
is there a right for ECS subscribers to be listed
in the directories. On the other hand PATS providers
are subject to additional rights and obligations
over and above those of ECS providers. These include
number portability, calls to emergency services,
publication of information on prices, rights for
subscribers to an entry in phone directories, carrier
selection and pre-selection. ECTA therefore thinks
that it is important that market players should
enjoy a genuine choice between becoming an ECS or
PATS provider. At the same time, ECTA wants to make
sure that ECS status does not become a loophole
for incumbent operators to evade regulation at the
retail level and create opportunities for them to
undermine the effectiveness of wholesale regulation.
ECTA also feels that the Commission should reinforce
the need for both geographic and non-geographic
numbers to be available to all VoIP providers to
ensure effective choice and competition is available
to consumers. Another key issue for ECTA is that
specific care needs to be given to supporting the
emergence of nomadic offerings as this represents
one of the most exciting additional features that
VoIP services offer to users.
Generally, ECTA supports the application of little
or no regulation to VoIP-using applications and
services that are not deemed substitutes for regular
PSTN services. ECTA would welcome an accommodating
approach both to numbering and to emergency services
access by the regulatory authorities, particularly
where nomadic services are concerned. |
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