Innovation and Regulation of Information and Communication Technologies - Case Study Example

?INNOVATION AND REGULATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES By Table of Content Introduction Over past few years internet protocol (IP) has turned into a very useful framework for the business and corporate networks since it allows the incorporation of data and voice as well as other business related IT services. Additionally, the accessibility of IP supported equipment as well as software to up-hold data and voice services along with the broadband access has motivated suppliers to present telephony services based on VoIP (voice over IP) to the small businesses and residential marketplaces. However, the existing participants into the marketplace who are planning to offer a telephony or telephony supported VoIP product have confirmed that the present regulatory arrangements could not be convinced under the provisioning measures they have been capable to put into practice (Australian Communications Authority, 2004). In addition, the Voice over Internet Protocol services was also largely reached in approximately 57 nations, even the nations where there was no clear regulatory structure or licensing procedures for VoIP. Additionally, till mid-2009, the number of nations where Voice over Internet Protocol services were accepted had increased to two-thirds, with 92 nations allowed VoIP and more than 39 nations standing it. In the meantime, the number of nations where VoIP was not allowed or banned minimized from 80 in year 2004 to 49 in year 2009, or in relation to a quarter of the entire nations for which data exist. From this discussion it is clear that the greatest regulatory challenge is to encourage the expansion of a marketplace for less costly VoIP services, as compared to the immediately leaving VoIP to build up of its own accord. Moreover, in several nations like Australia, the size of the Voice over Internet Protocol services marketplace is a main fear for the regulators that regularly monitors as well as publish marketplace data estimates (Biggs, 2011). This paper discusses various regulatory problems that are raised due to the growth of Voice over Internet Protocol services. In this research I will outline some of the major areas to make regulatory decisions that can affect the economic prospects of different kinds of service provider in the communications area. This paper will also present a discussion of the regulatory aims and strategies that could form the basis of possible decisions in this area. Regulatory framework This section presents the basic analysis of the regulatory framework for the Voice over Internet Protocol services. The regulation of carriage services holds a broad variety of services as well as an STS is an explicit kind of carriage service. In this scenario, the Telecommunications Act 1997 offers a detailed description of the carriage service according to which it is a type of services for carrying out communication services using unguided or/and guided electromagnetic energy. Additionally, if the communication carriage services are provided in Australia then these services will be covered by this Act. According to which an individual or a firm offering a carriage service to somebody ‘beyond the instant circle’ of the supplier is acknowledged as a carriage service source. In addition, there exist a vast variety of laws and regulations which apply on different classifications of services such as carriage services and their suppliers as carriage service providers. However, there are some regulations which are applied to all the types of carriage services, comprising VoIP services, include: (Australian Communications Authority, 2004) Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1997 must be followed Offer number associated information to the IPND (Integrated Public Number database) manager intended for directory use as well as to forward calls to the emergency operator Safety of the privacy of communications Offer an interception potential as well as an interception facility plan to the related agencies. Moreover, the commitment of carriage service sources are specified in the legislation as well as the subordinated legal tools (Australian Communications Authority, 2004) Regulatory Issues This section presents some of the major regulatory problems raised by the growth of Voice over Internet Protocol services: Interconnection: Interconnection to the old or traditional communication PSTN networks is necessary for attaining purposeful VoIP capabilities. This interconnection is done using contractual agreements and gateways between VoIP suppliers as well as PSTN operators. In addition, this kind of implementation and operational measures must be examined by regulator. On the other hand, these interconnections are not formed moderately using non-discriminatory arrangements for interconnection; regulator should get involved in following the customary working links and standards since an appropriare interconnection is a main requirement for the flourishing development of VoIP (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). Universal Service: In some nation’s rural areas the latest wireless communication technologies are playing a wonderful role and a mixture of VoIP services and wireless arrangements can allow a well-organized development of all the kinds of communications services, comprising basic voice services. In this scenario, a critical issue in using a VoIP for the condition of worldwide service is in-line powering of communication and data transmission terminals. On the other hand, customary telephony service is designed on the basis of back-up power, and thus it carries on working in scenario of electricity power breakdown. In this scenario, the present VoIP terminals/services are reliant on an implementation power supply that is a basic need for in-line powering of communication terminals could put a huge load on the VoIP communication system operators as well as slow growth of service to un-served national rural regions (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011).  Moreover, the regulators should play a critical role as a driver to expand VoIP for communication network.  For the longer term, the need for emergency data transfer and communication standards and services those could be excellently tackled by considering all the new technologies as well as services in the NGN, and the majority mainly VoIP an mobile (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). Numbering: VoIP services will survive with customary public telephony for a lot of years previous to the change to the entire VoIP is accomplished. However, the pace of expansion of VoIP will be relying on its access to the nationwide E.164 number plans. On the other hand, a regulatory barrier in accessing numbers could hinder or hold-up VoIP expansion. In this scenario, one solution is to allocate a new number series for VoIP communication services, though this would cause complexities for customers.  In addition, the most excellent solution would be to allocate numbers related to the present PSTN numbers and to involve number portability; as a result people will not required to alter their phone numbers when they would need to move to a competitor presenting VoIP services (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). Emergency call and positioning: The likelihood to carry out emergency or urgent calls as well as to route the calls to the adjacent authority (for instance police, fire department, hospitals etc.) has been one of the most critical aspects of Publicly Available Telephony Services (PATS) in Europe. However, related needs are element of law in other nations. In addition, getting information regarding caller location is as well extra frequently becoming a need for together mobile and fixed telephony. However, VoIP allows the users to keep track of positioning as well as routing information for emergency communication calls on the other hand this necessitates utilization of VoIP services from fixed communication locations. Though, one of the capable features of VoIP services is used while traveling. However, in nomadic utilization at the present level of technological progress, the information regarding position cannot be linked to the emergency communication call. Thus, it has turned into a dispute between both marketplace players and the regulatory structure.  In this scenario, regulators should try to become pioneer in finding the resolution of these significant emergency concerns in future networks (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). QoS: with POTS, there are comprehensive suggestions on QoS from the ITU and in a lot of national regulations. Additionally, in case of directed VoIP services it is probable to offer assessable QoS, however this is harder in most excellent effort services. In the same way, another most significant issue is the motivation of supporting operators to present access to QoS condition to non-facility foundation operators. For instance a main debate in Europe as well as other areas is about the lack of QoS terms in the wholesale Bit stream contact products presented by the PSTN current. Regulators should effort to take lead in ensuring customer protection with regard to QoS (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). Interoperability & Standardization: Varying technological measures and standards are utilized in order to set-up VoIP services. However, it is significant to implement interoperability among these standards. Additionally, the case of interoperability can be established at both technology and marketplace levels. As well new numbering systems similar to worldwide Dialing System and ENUM can necessitate interoperability and standardization.  Thus, regulators should strictly monitor these procedures, as well as if the marketplace players do not discover sufficient solutions for interoperability, regulatory procedures can be essential (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). Security and consumer protection: In standard telephony services consumer security standards have been established as normally considered satisfactory. In this scenario there is need for establishment of the enhanced security measures and standards (ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011). Economic Prospects of VoIP Service Provider Seeing that, the VoIP implementation carries on to speed-up, thus customary phone companies will face fiercer rivalry from VoIP-enabled service suppliers. Eventually, they can see their client base affected from this competition as well as discover their operating margins and expansion prospects reduced. Additionally, this interruption can use-up traffic from discount long distance communication service suppliers, as well as reduce need for the services of 3rd party telephone/voice corporations. In addition, the businesses that offer access services and produce the VoIP software systems and semiconductor chips utilized in building VoIP networks will encompass the most prospects to steal marketplace share from incumbents as well as speed-up market revenue expansion. Moreover, VoIP regulatory matters comprise regulatory fees and 911 access issues. Thus they have turned out to be main issue for service providers, regulators as well as clients alike. For instance in June 2005, the FCC established improved 911 contracts on suppliers of VoIP interconnect services, resulted in augmented capital and operating cost for the entire technology providers. A lot of businesses are afraid of putting into practice VoIP because of fears regarding future government guidelines of the technology that could demand extra taxes and fees. In view of the fact that the VoIP is a comparatively modern technology, it could be years prior to we are responsive of the complete breath of regulatory limitations. For instance, the FCC is at present making decision whether it is acceptable for fixed-line phone businesses to charge VoIP suppliers for access costs (Dugal et al., 2011). Furthermore, Premier Global Services and ACT Teleconferencing are some of the well known models of 3rd-party service and technology suppliers who will observe decrease in their demand as users will prefer to choose new technology based feature of rich VoIP services. Additionally, call waiting, caller ID, call attendance and audio conferencing are some of the instances of characteristics that are or will be standard with VoIP; however are first-class services with customary lines. Moreover, further innovative characteristics are continually being incorporated to VoIP, and will carry on disrupting the businesses of other telephone technology based voice services suppliers (Dugal et al., 2011). Regulatory Aims and Strategies Regardless of the nature of the regulatory regime, the complex and overarching challenge of whether voice service costs should carry on to be prohibited in the NGN areas has become a critical issue of nationwide policy, driven through matters of public good, investment, support of competition, cost benefits and worldwide service needs. However, these matters could be successfully tackled by the applicable policy makers and regulators. In scenario of placing regulatory prices for voice services, it is apparent that the predictable financial LRIC technique could simply be utilized consistently for the PSTN, where expenses are identified and could be dependably attributed to standardized communication services. On the side of VoIP, network basic needs and practices could differ considerably relying upon the kind and quality of voice service being offered as well as, through its nature, the IP network is actively shared among a broad variety of communication services. Thus, this dynamic communication service and network environment makes it noticeably much harder to attribute network expenses to services as well as could make the use of LRIC undependable. In this scenario, the reliable utilization of LRIC would necessitate prevalent agreement on the communication network assets concerned in offering VoIP and a methodology for assigning costs to the broad variety of probable VoIP service kinds (Network Strategies Limited, 2011), (Biggs, 2011), (Australian Communications Authority, 2004). Conclusion Over past few years internet protocol (IP) has turned into a very useful framework for the business and corporate networks since it allows the incorporation of data and voice as well as other business related IT services. In addition, the Voice over Internet Protocol services was also largely reached in approximately 57 nations, even the nations where there was no clear regulatory structure or licensing procedures for VoIP. Seeing that, the VoIP implementation carries on to speed-up, thus customary phone companies will face fiercer rivalry from VoIP-enabled service suppliers. Eventually, they can see their client base affected from this competition as well as discover their operating margins and expansion prospects reduced. This paper has presented a detailed analysis of different regulatory problems raised by the growth of Voice over Internet Protocol services. This paper has highlighted some of the main regulatory decisions in this area affected by different kinds of service providers in the communications area. This paper has also assessed some regulatory aims and strategies that could form the basis of possible decisions in this area. References Australian Communications Authority, 2004. Regulatory Issues Associated with Provision of Voice Services Using Internet Protocol in Australia. [Online] Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/aca_home/issues_for_comment/discussion/aca_voip_dp.pdf [Accessed 03 August 2011]. Biggs, P., 2011. Voice over Internet Protocol: Enemy or Ally? [Online] Available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/GSR09/doc/GSR09_VoIP-Trends_Biggs.pdf [Accessed 04 August 2011]. Dugal, I.S., Jiang, J. & Bangstad, K., 2011. VOIP. [Online] Available at: http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Voip [Accessed 07 August 2011]. ICT Regulation Toolkit, 2011. 4.4 VoIP. [Online] Available at: http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/Section.3083.html [Accessed 06 August 2011]. Network Strategies Limited, 2011. NGNs and the future of regulated voice services. [Online] Available at: http://www.strategies.nzl.com/wpapers/2006012.htm [Accessed 07 August 2011]. Read More