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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.

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Contents

• The VoIP revolution what makes the difference?
• Main conclusions in RTRs draft position on VoIP
  (on the Internet)

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The VoIP revolution what makes the
difference?
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Old and New World at first glance not much
difference
GlobalInternet (Packet Switched)the net of
(internet-style) IP-networksglobal
IP-adressing scheme (xxxx.xxxx.xxxx.xxxx)
GlobalPublic Switched telephone
Network(PSTN)the net of PSTN-networksglobal
E.164 numbers adressing scheme (telephon
numbers)
PSTNcarriers carrier orindirect access operator
InternetBackbone provider
ISP
PSTN
Telephone Service Provider
PSTN
ISPInternet Service Provider
ISP
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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 NGNs will look like.

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PSTN telephone service always includes transport
of users voice data !
service provision controls way of user (voice)
data
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VoIP provison on the internet in the generic
case does NOT include transport of user voice
data
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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 end data transport (in form
  of routing voice bits in IP data packets) is
  provided by the Internet service providers of the
  involved subscribers

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VoIP telephony two independent services used
in parallel

• In the general case the VoIP provider of a user
  and the ISP of 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 !

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Main conclusions in RTRs draft position on
VoIP (on the Internet)
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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)

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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.
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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.
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Public Consultation on VoIP
At the moment the Austrian NRAs (RTRs) position
document on VoIP (in English ?) is in public
consultation. It is available for download on
RTRs homepage
http//www.rtr.at/web.nsf/englisch/Portfolio_Kons
ultationen_bisherige_bisherigeKonsultationen_Konsu
ltationVoIP2005?OpenDocument
email comments are welcomed to konsultationen_at_rtr.
at until 10th of June.
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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.

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Thank you for your attention!

• Ernst Langmantel
• Austrian Regulatory Authority
• for Telecommunications and Broadcasting
• http//www.rtr.at
• ernst.langmantel_at_rtr.at
• 43-1-58058-300