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Introduction

VoIP services enable voice, data and multimedia services to be provided over a broadband Internet connection. This study focuses on the provision of voice call services, which is the feature common to all types of VoIP services.

There are four main types of VoIP voice call service: peer-to-peer services to make and receive voice calls over the Internet only, usually within the same application community; VoIP Out services to make voice calls over the Internet to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephony Network, the standard public phone network), but not to receive calls from the PSTN; VoIP In services to receive voice calls over the Internet from the PSTN, but not to make calls to the PSTN. Customers can be allocated an ordinary geographic number or a VoIP number (056); and VoIP In and Out services to receive voice calls over the Internet from the PSTN and to make voice calls over the Internet to the PSTN. Customers can be allocated an ordinary geographic number or a VoIP number (056).

This study considers the impact on VoIP providers of providing access to emergency services. Some providers surveyed provide VoIP and broadband (referred to as on-net VoIP providers), others offer a VoIP service only (referred to as Internet-based VoIP providers) and others are wholesale VoIP providers. For those that do not currently provide access to emergency services, there is implied cost in enabling and properly administering emergency service access, as well as extra cost in call delivery. However, it is not simply the cost of calls and of the infrastructure necessary to make 999 calls that is relevant.

One of the features of current European legislation means that if a VoIP service is available to the public, allows calls to and from ordinary national and international phone numbers, and provides emergency service access then it is likely to be considered a Publicly Available Telephone Service (PATS). PATS are subject to additional regulations (defined in terms of a set of general conditions) that place certain obligations on providers (e.g. a certain level of network integrity). This study also considers the consequential impact on VoIP providers of having to meet the general conditions for PATS.

The full document is available below

• Emergency service access and the impact of compliance with General Conditions on VoIP providers [pdf]
  Full Print Version

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