Intellectual Property Law

VoIP Services in UK

By IBLS Editor

On February 22, 2006, Ofcom published a consultation setting out its revised approach to the regulation of VoIP. Important changes in this consultation include the amendment to classification of VoIP services. Ofcom proposed to introduce a Code of Practice which would require the provision of consumer information by service providers, including statements of the instances in which a service provider does not provide emergency access.

The proliferation of VoIP services has impacted the UK communication market over the last five years. VoIP services deliver significant consumer benefit through reducing the cost of delivering existing telecommunications services. Since the development of VoIP services is still in its infancy, the future development of these services and technology is, at present, unclear.

In response to the early developments and discussions with stakeholders, Ofcom published a consultation setting out its revised approach to the regulation of VoIP. The amendment to the classification of VoIP services is the key change in the consultation. Other major changes include stipulations that if a VoIP service meets all the Publicly Available Telephone Services (PATS) criteria such as providing: (a) a service that is available to the public; (b) a service for originating and receiving national and international phone calls; (c) a service that allows access to emergency services; or (d) a service that allocates a number or numbers in a national or international telephone numbering plan, then it will automatically be subject to the full scope of regulatory conditions applicable to PATS providers, which was previously not subjected to the full scope of regulatory conditions applicable to PATS providers. Ofcom also proposed to introduce a Code of Practice which would require the provision of consumer information by service providers, including statements where a service does not provide emergency access.

VoIP operators are anxious about Ofcom?s proposals because the proposals would ban operators from offering 999 access to emergency services if they do not conform to a list of requirements followed by publicly available telephone services, or PATS. According to proposed rules, a VoIP operator is required to provide emergency calls at no charge, to ensure network reliability and to ensure resilience even in case of disasters. They are also required to provide operator assistance and directory enquiries, and to publish clear and up-to-date prices and terms and conditions. Major hurdles, however, arise with VoIP services which rely on a Personal Computer or VoIP handset cannot be used in the event of a power cut unlike traditional wired PATS telephones, which makes it difficult for them to match the provision of PATS with regard to network reliability and resilience.

The co-founder and chairman of the Internet Telephony Services Providers Association (ITSPA), Eli Katz, opined that the long list of requirements by the proposed rules will adversely affect consumer protection that it does not make sense to ban VoIP operators from offering 999 access altogether.

Ofcom has proposed to introduce a mandatory code which would require VoIP providers to provide important information about elements of the service that differ from traditional telephone services offered to consumers. Such requirement includes the necessity to provide consumers with data regarding particular areas of difference such as lower overall service reliability; whether access to emergency calls is offered; whether location information is provided by the service provider to the emergency services; the ability of a subscriber to keep its telephone number; access to the operator, directory assistance, and directory listing.

On February 22, 2006, Ofcom published a consultation setting out its revised approach to the regulation of VoIP. Ofcom is trying to make changes to its guidance in order to encourage VoIP providers to offer access to 999 emergency services. It is also trying to help VoIP providers to comply with the existing regulation of voice services to 999 emergency services, including requirements for PATS. If a VoIP service offers 999 access, then it will be defined as a PATS service. In this case, the VoIP service provider will need to meet certain additional existing regulatory requirements. However, if a VoIP service is defined as PATS service then the VoIP provider has right to request portability from another PATS provider for all types of telephone numbers.

Ofcom published a consultation which sets out its proposed approach to regulating VoIP services in the light of new technological developments. However, the VoIP operators are anxious about Ofcom?s proposals because the proposals would ban operators from offering 999 access to emergency services if they do not conform to a list of requirements for publicly available telephone services, or PATS, which may be technologically infeasible at this stage.

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on July 24, 2008 (boomark / email).