FOV Round Table Agenda for Action

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FOV Round TableAgenda for Action
ITU Workshop 15-16 January 2007
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Summarizing the two days

• Consensus
• Confusion
• Contention

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Consensus

• Voice is on the move from fixed to mobile, from
  PSTN to IP, but
• Voice delivered by circuit switched fixed
  networks will disappear.
• Voice is vital and demanded by users.
• Voice is the core of telecoms revenue (about 80)
• Voice fixed lines and ARPU are falling, just
  opposite for mobile.
• Voice trends vary widely by country (viz. U.S.)
• Voice pricing is moving toward flat rate and
  bundles
• Voice can be enhanced by combining with data
  (e.g., online social networking services, or
  telemedicine)

4
Consensus (contd)

• The incremental cost of voice is nil
• Price discrimination needed as a revenue source
• Product differentiation (e.g., branding and
  marketing) can be used to sell costless services
• Mobile and SMS termination and international
  roaming pricing are exorbitant

5
Confusion

• How to structure interconnection pricing of
  asymmetric networks, VoIP services.
• Imbalance between rich and poor users, and rich
  and poor countries.
• Impact of vertical separation on fixed voice
  delivery.

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Contention

• Traditional fixed (and possibly mobile) service
  providers are doomed.
• Unbundling incumbent fixed networks is
  antithetical to investment necessary to maintain
  the voice network, and to innovate
• Voice access market is workably competitive vs.
  market power is inevitable and regulation is
  prescribed