VoIP – PATS, ECS or neither nor?

1. VoIP – PATS, ECS or neither nor? Ernst Langmantel Director Technical Division Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunication (RTR) The opinions expressed in this presentation are the personal views of the author and do not prejudge decisions of the Austrian regulatory authorities. VON Europe 2005

2. Contents • The VoIP revolution – what makes the difference? • Main conclusions in RTR‘s draft position on VoIP (on the Internet) VON Europe 2005

3. The VoIP revolution – what makes the difference? VON Europe 2005

4. Old and New World – at first glance not much difference GlobalInternet (Packet Switched)„the net of (internet-style) IP-networks“;global IP-adressing scheme („xxxx.xxxx.xxxx.xxxx“) GlobalPublic Switched telephone Network(PSTN)„the net of PSTN-networks“;global E.164 numbers adressing scheme („telephon numbers“) PSTNcarriers carrier orindirect access operator InternetBackbone provider ISP PSTN ISP PSTN Telephone Service Provider ISPInternet Service Provider VON Europe 2005

5. VoIP revolution – is it only IP ? • It has to do with the Internet Protocol (IP) – not very surprising ;-) • BUT it is NOT ONLY because of IP usage ! • It is because of the specific way the Internet has been built on IP technology – in technical AND economic (!) terms. • One can also build PSTN-like “walled garden” implementations based on IP technology – we will see what NGN’s will look like. VON Europe 2005

6. PSTN provider C PSTN provider A signalling serviceprovision telephon exchange telephon exchange Vicedata voice data transport PSTN provider B PSTN telephone service alwaysincludestransport of users voice data ! service provision controls way of user (voice) data VON Europe 2005

7. VoIP serviceprovision ISP C IP router ONLY IP-based packet routing ISP A IP router IP-telephon ISP B “VoIP provison” on the internet in the generic case does NOT include transport of user voice data VON Europe 2005

8. VoIP service provider Internet User B User A Internet Connectivity (= Electronic Communication Service) What kind of service is “VoIP” (on the the internet) • “VoIP provision” on the internet is more like a electronic real time directory service providing the IP address of the called terminal to the calling terminal • The service of end to enddata transport (in form of routing voice bits in IP data packets) is provided by the Internet service providers of the involved subscribers VON Europe 2005

9. VoIP service provider Internet User B User A Internet Connectivity (= Electronic Communication Service) VoIP telephony = two independent services used in parallel • In the general case the VoIP providerof a userand the ISPof a user are technically and commercially fully independent companies • The end customer contracts two independent services at different companies and uses these two services in parallel resulting in “telephony” in the users perception ! VON Europe 2005

10. Main conclusions in RTR‘s draft position on VoIP (on the Internet) VON Europe 2005

11. Basic legal provisions in the CURRENT framework • Definition of an „electronic communication service“ (ECS): Means a service… which consists wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communication networks … • A public available telephone services (PATS) is a special kind of electronic communication service (the most regulated one), i.e. a service that does not fullfill the criteria for an electronic communication service legally cannot be a telephon service • Starting from these legal provisions the following draft conclusions have been drawn by RTR regarding the regulatory treatment of VoIP services (based on the internet) VON Europe 2005

12. Regulatory view (1): VoIP Internet Only services Internet-only VoIP services of the above kind are generally classified as non-ECS (and non-PATS) As the Austrian telecommunications act in line with the European framework defines publicly available telephone service (PATS) as a sub-category of ECS, Internet-only VoIP services automatically are non-PATS, as well. VON Europe 2005

13. Regulatory view (2): VoIP Internet services incl. PSTN All VoIP services including access to the PSTN (by means of an IP gateway), generally are classified as PATS. Based on the current framework by reselling of (PSTN-)PATS a VoIP provider turns into a PATS provider, i.e. if a provider buys PATS on the wholesale market (e.g. a wholesale termination product) to (re)sell this service to his own end customers by means of gateway and additional means, this provider automatically is to be treated as PATS provider himself. VON Europe 2005

14. Public Consultation on VoIP At the moment the Austrian NRAs (RTR‘s) position document on VoIP (in English ) is in public consultation. It is available for download on RTR‘s homepage: http://www.rtr.at/web.nsf/englisch/Portfolio_Konsultationen_bisherige_bisherigeKonsultationen_KonsultationVoIP2005?OpenDocument email comments are welcomed to konsultationen@rtr.at until 10th of June. VON Europe 2005

15. Some final views • If the presented results – especially those regarding Internet only VoIP services - are politically „unwanted“ one may consider adaptions of the current framework. • Any new framework that aims to include Internet only VoIP services would have to very carefully consider which obligations could/ should be posed on • the network providers (ISPs) and which on • VoIP providers taking into account the very different roles of the parties. • Any new framework would have to consider that based on Internet technology and architecture server funtionalities can also be implemented at the users terminal to a large extent („self provison“ of services). • It might be difficult to keep other internet applications out of regulation if „Internet only VoIP“ is included. VON Europe 2005

16. Thank you for your attention! • Ernst Langmantel • Austrian Regulatory Authority • for Telecommunications and Broadcasting • http://www.rtr.at • ernst.langmantel@rtr.at • +43-1-58058-300 VON Europe 2005