VoIP, Broadband to Be Addressed in Negotiations by U.S. and EC
Broadband, including VoIP, will be among many issues addressed next week in U.S.-U.K. and U.S.-European Commission (EC) talks in Europe, top govt. officials told us. A U.S. delegation led by the State Dept.’s David Gross -- and comprising top officials from the FCC (Comr. Abernathy, International Bureau Deputy Chief Anna Gomez, and staff members Tracey Weisler and Allan Thomas), Commerce Dept. (NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher), Justice Dept., U.S. Trade Representative and Dept. of Homeland Security -- is heading to Europe tomorrow (Sat.) for a week-long mission. It will meet with the British delegation headed by David Hendon of the U.K. Dept. of Trade & Industry in London Sept. 14-15 and with the EC delegation led by Fabio Colasanti, dir. gen. of the Information Society, in Brussels Sept. 17. It will also participate in the Digital Economy Workshop, hosted by the European American Business Council in Brussels Sept. 16.
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“Each of these meetings is part of our regular bilateral talks” with the EC and European Union (EU) member states held “roughly once a year,” a State Dept. official told us. He said the parties will discuss: (1) “Regulatory developments in different countries.” (2) “Multilateral work.” He said the sides will discuss their positions on “key issues” before ITU and OECD, and on telecom policy and standards issues to be addressed at the upcoming World Telecom Standards Assembly (WTSA), scheduled for Oct. in Brazil. There will also be “an extensive discussion” of issues scheduled to be addressed at the 2nd phase of WSIS meetings in 2005, he said.
(3) “Access to 3rd-country markets.” Noting that addressing that issue represented a “shift” in focus, compared to previous meetings, the official said many problems that the U.S. and Europe faced when trying to enter those markets were very similar. He said during the meetings, the delegations will “identify the problems” their countries face, such as use of standards as a barrier to trade entry, and “will have more in-depth discussions” of possible joint solutions. Among other issues expected to be addressed are wireless services, spectrum, e-commerce, Internet governance and digital TV, officials said.
“VoIP will be discussed as well as other key issues, such as broadband deployment,” the official said: “The key question before regulators is how to treat VoIP… That’s a top topic at many other bilateral discussions.” He didn’t comment on the extent to which VoIP was addressed during previous bilateral talks between the U.S. and EC, but said “with the technological development with VoIP, it will take on added importance.”
Meanwhile, U.S. VoIP providers said they would be watching how much the talks address IP-enabled services. Many have agreed the U.K. leads the U.S. in setting positive policies for VoIP. Particular attention in the U.S. was given to a decision by the U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) this week giving VoIP providers in that country access to geographic numbers and to new specially created non-geographic numbers beginning with the code 056. “It is a demonstration that at least one regulatory body acknowledges the value of enabling VoIP customers to be reached from the PSTN and the absurdity of imposing geographic restrictions on numbers in an IP- enabled world,” said pulver.com Gen. Counsel Jonathan Askin. An AT&T spokesman said the U.K. took “a very liberal approach” in its numbering decision: “We share it with regulators all around the world, encouraging them to follow Ofcom.”
The U.K. numbering decision contrasts with that of German regulator RegTP, which last month ruled that VoIP providers in that country can get access to geographic numbers only in the area where the customer is registered. The regulator also proposed that VoIP providers have access to new specially-created nongeographic 032 code. The decisions were strongly criticized by the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATN), which said both geographic and nongeographic numbers should be available for VoIP.
Some in the VoIP industry expressed concern about regulators introducing different nongeographic codes for VoIP service in different countries. Washington attorney Axel Spies said such an approach would “make it more difficult [for VoIP providers] to provide the service because of nomadic users… There should be a harmonized approach within the European Union.” A source familiar with U.S. numbering issues said the U.K. approach was “not consistent with what is happening in the U.S.” He said with wireline, wireless and VoIP services becoming substitutes for one another, “putting a separate code for a particular technology” didn’t make sense. Askin said “some in VoIP community are concerned” that use of a separate code could lead to “a potential discrimination” by providers with market power and control over facilities. He said he expected there wouldn’t be any need for numbers “in 5-10 years… but until that time we need the ability to use traditional numbers to be truly ubiquitous.” The AT&T spokesman said it was important to ensure that international access to those codes was provided by VoIP companies in different countries.