Peer pressure

Rais Hussin writes:

"The industry needs to apply mind to scenarios wherein a Skype user calls a Yahoo! or a Google user. Unlike instant messaging, voice cannot be kept in silos. Interconnect-related issues will surface sooner than later now that these Internet monoliths have finally woken up to Skype's depredations and position themselves as IP telephony providers, something they could have done well before Skype if hubris had not set in.

Such inbound calls are already a significant source of revenue for cellular networks and there is no reason why VoIP telephony service providers should not be entitled to the same benefits. Cellular carriers woke up some years ago to the fact that by issuing phone numbers to their mobile users, they had effectively become gatekeepers to this growing customer base. Once realisation dawned, there was an immediate differentiation in rate structure between calls going into a country's fixed network and those terminating over a cellular network. The cellular companies made millions in incremental revenue by becoming the gatekeeper.

Not surprisingly, the licensed establishment is loath to allow VoIP players the same privilege. The entitlement for owning phone numbers is archaically tied to owning network. But a network is no longer an essential while providing telephony.

So while Vonage may have close to a million customers across the length and breadth of the US, it is not their gatekeeper in the strictest sense of the word and cannot decide the rate on an incoming call. Vonage would have to own network to be able to issue its own phone numbers but that militates against its session initiation protocol (SIP)-based strategy.

This is the most important issue confronting VoIP. However, while Skype is showing signs of understanding the issue, Vonage is oblivious as it focuses on almost recklessly acquiring customers reminiscent of the way we corralled 'eyeballs' during the dotcom era.

Will Asia again take the back seat while the West settles the matter for it or will it embrace VoIP while creating a regulatory environment that unfetters VoIP players from networks? One would suggest that given the opportunity staring us in the face, it behooves Malaysia to set up a separate block of phone numbers for true VoIP players who use SIP technology to access customers. That would be a sure sign to the world that we are on the ball and ready for the big play. It would be one more, sure step towards becoming a telecommunications hub."