THE FUTURE OF VOICE
Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG
Session 6: Shaping an
Enabling Regulatory
Paradigm
Sergio Antocicco
International Telecommunications Users
Group
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG What is INTUG?
• a group representing user views to:
– European Commission
– OECD, ICC/UNICE, CTO
– ITU, WTO, APEC TEL, CITEL
• an association of associations:
– national user groups
– multi-national corporations
– individuals, eg academics
• formed 1974 (Swift, SITA, Reuters)
A catalyst for change
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG Links in all Continents
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG Our aims
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effective global reach via competition
seamless service interoperability
better value/quality - fit for purpose
investment and innovation in services
constructive industry co-operation with:
– governments and regulators
– operators and service providers
– equipment manufacturers
Global economic and social growth via telecoms
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG Our activities
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lobbying at global and regional levels
affecting national policy processes
speeches and presentations
a source of information
early awareness of issues
networking amongst users
informal channels to governments
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG Voice services
• Technologies and users have different
clocks
• For cultural reasons voice services will
remain the most widely used services
for the next decades
• Today, Videoconference is still
considered a voice service with an addon option
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG The IP revolution seen by users
• First reaction: a cheaper voice
communication technology
• Second reaction: a powerful tool for
integrating voice and data
• Third reaction: a new tool for
communication services, among which,
there is a huge usage of voice services
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG IP pricing mechanism
• Logically, by volume (time and
distance insensitive)
• Dependent on bandwidth
• Competition constraint: the rental of
a videocassette at the shop round the
corner
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG IP pricing mechanism - 2
• Consequently, voice should cost
almost zero
A commercial challenge for most
“legacy” Operators which must
be addressed by offering new
applications
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP
• All Operators use VoIP technologies within
their networks
• Savings are mainly retained by Operators
• BUT .....
• VoIP services offerings transfer most of
savings directly to final users
Which hurdles could be devised?
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP - HURDLES
• Emergency services access
• User physical location
• A service unable to supply those
services doesn’t comply with Universal
Service Obligations
Therefore, it must be subject to strong
limitations
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – A POSSIBLE SOLUTION
• Operators know where users are located
• Therefore, they can send relevant information
to the VoIP Client, together with, for instance,
the IP address, at log-on
• The VoIP Client can send location data
stored, if an emergency call must be made
Rules and standards are necessary
Is it a problem?
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – INCOMING CALLS
• Some Operators try to limit the use of
geographic numbers for incoming VoIP calls
• The excuse is the “nomadic” characteristic of
a VoIP called individual
• “You must stay where your phone number is
located” seems a must
But, if you divert the call to another
location and pay an additional call,
everything is OK
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – INCOMING CALLS
• In some Countries, Authorities are
imposing limitations for the use of
geographic (E.164) numbers
• Fixed or Mobile is OK
• Nomadic use must be limited
Users don’t want limitations
Nomadic use has the same importance
of fixed and mobile
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – A NEW PERSPECTIVE
• Millions people are in the VoIP Village: the
World
• Growing figures are stunning
• Social, economic and political consequences
of cheaper & more efficient communications
are unbelievable
VoIP services must be supported, non
opposed
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – A PROPOSAL
• Phone numbers refer to specific
Countries
• VoIP users are citizens of the World
• They participate to a community
without borders
A worldwide numbering scheme
could reflect those characteristics
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – A PROPOSAL
• VoIP numbers could be, for instance, 10 digit
long, starting with 5
• 5XXX XXX XXX could become the “Planet
Earth citizen” phone number
• Each inhabitant of our Planet could have its
own VoIP phone number
• eNUM system could manage also those
numbers, allowing routing and the usage of
mnemonic identifiers
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – A PROPOSAL
• A worldwide Organisation (ITU?)
should manage the number
assignements (as it happens for
frequencies)
• Some new technical standards should be
developed
The risk is that it could work!
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG VoIP – A PERSPECTIVE
• Communication is the basis for freedom
and for cultural growth
• We will continue using the voice as a
basic tool
THEREFORE VOICE WILL
CONTINUE TO BE THE KILLER
APPLICATION!
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Geneva , 15-16 January 2007
ITU - The Future of Voice
www.intug.org
INTUG Thank You
Sergio Antocicco
INTUG
tel + 39 06 59 58 53 70 (Italy)
fax +39 06 59 42 724 (Italy)
VoIP Skype and VoipCheap: sergiotlc
VoIP dial-in: +1 703 349 0468 (USA)
chairman@intug.net
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