Commission decides policy on Internet telephony
The European Commission has published a notice defining its policy on voice telephony over the Internet. The Commission has decided that, on the basis of current standards and conditions, Internet voice telephony will not be subject to the Regulation governing voice telephony. The Commission intends to review the situation, and in the light of future developments in technology and the market, may then decide to bring Internet voice telephony within the scope of the Regulation. The notice distinguishes between different types of telephony services currently available through the Internet. In particular, it makes a distinction between those using computers as terminals, and those using standard telephones as terminals. The Commission considers that only those services between two telephones connected to the public network but routed over the Internet are close to being voice telephony within the scope of the Regulation. Internet voice telephony does not currently meet the following conditions: - Communications are the subject of a commercial offer; - The service is provided for the public; - The service is provided to and from public switched network termination points on the fixed telephony network; - It involves direct transport and speech in real time. Once these conditions are met by Internet voice telephony services, which offer a quality of service equivalent to traditional voice telephony services, they will be subject to the same regulatory regime as these traditional services. The Commission's assessment was made following widespread consultations on the issue during 1997. The policy was broadly endorsed during this process. It means that markets will be kept open for innovation, with the possibility of multimedia telephony being offered over the Internet. Furthermore, it means that in the meantime, Internet access providers will not be required to contribute to the funding of universal service obligations, as traditional telephone service providers are. The full text of the notice can be found in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJ No C 6 of 10.1.1998 p. 4). It can also be found on the Europa World Wide Web server, at: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg04/law/liber/libera.htm