A proposal would require that voice over Internet Protocol providers enable calls to emergency services. The U.K.’s telecommunications regulator, the Office of Communications, has since mandated that such access must be made available by September 2008.
Leading VoIP providers, such as Skype, disagree with such proposals, arguing that VoIP is a complement to, rather than a […]
The cost of industry consolidation over the last few years was not just limited to the deal prices quoted to Wall Street. 2007 was the year that the telecom began to deal with the ongoing cost of consolidation, such as technological and corporate integration. The most obvious example at the carrier level was Sprint Nextel’s […]
Vonage’s first patent lawsuit loss came back in March and was something of a stunner. Verizon Communications had sued the VoIP juggernaut over alleged infringement on seven patents, and though only three of them were found to have been infringed upon, the die was cast for a year in which Vonage also was sued by […]
There was probably no issue more divisive in the telecom industry during 2007 than the question of whether or not to grant telcos that participated in a warrantless domestic wiretapping program operated by the federal government retroactive immunity for their actions.
While Congress worked on new legislation to enable future surveillance and the Bush administration rebuffed […]
Net neutrality, as recently as the summer of 2007, appeared to be on the wane as a topic of concern for the telecom industry. Service providers weren’t taking it seriously, Net neutrality advocates couldn’t provide enough evidence for their concern, and Congress had moved on to different battles.
That all changed with Comcast’s traffic-delaying controversy. The […]
Demand for consumer VoIP in Canada is surging a survey of retailers says. The survey showed one of 12 Canadians is using a VoIP service and predicts the strong growth to continue as consumer costs fall for devices because of the strong Canadian dollar.
“The demand for VoIP has not only been overwhelming for service providers, […]
Britain has joined the U.S. to mandate the enabling of emergency calls from U.K.-based VoIP services. The new rules formulated by telco regulator Ofcom will come into effect Sept. 8 and follow a survey that showed 78 percent of VoIP users couldn’t access emergency numbers, or were unsure if they could.
The new rules will apply […]
Rural telcos and cable TV firms (often the very same company) should continue to have an influential friend in Washington, D.C., for the next five years. Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was nominated by President Bush for a new five-year term with the FCC, a nomination celebrated by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the rural […]
Verizon Business continues to enhance its VoIP services and network capabilities with the needs of business customers in mind. Yesterday it announced expanded IP trunking that will allow large enterprise customers to deploy a wider range of IP PBXes and take advantage of shared trunking and other capabilities. The carrier also announced that Ethernet now […]
MVNO Virgin Mobile USA has introduced a new over-the-air self-service activation application that automates the carrier’s mobile handset programming process. Telspree Communications is powering the MVNO’s new and improved customer service solution. Virgin began incorporating the solution during the third quarter of this year on new subscribers’ handsets as well as those of existing subscribers […]
