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voice
This
page covers internet telephony, in particular the regulation
of Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology and
its impact on traditional telephone services.
It covers -
introduction
Three introductions are -
Internet
Telephony (Cambridge: MIT Press 2001) edited by
Lee McKnight, William Lehr & David Clark - economic,
market and regulatory studies
The Internet Telephone Toolkit (New York: Wiley
1996) by Jeff Pulver
The Internet's Coming of Age, a
report from the US National Academy of Sciences
that centres on the evolution of telephony over the
net.
uptake
A report
presented by the ITU Secretary-General at the March 2001
World Telecommunication Policy Forum on Internet Protocol
(IP) Telephony suggests that the VOIP market is now taking
off, rising from almost zero voice calls in 1997 to just
over 3% of international voice traffic (4 billion minutes)
last year. Some estimates suggest that by 2004 up to 40%
of all international telephone traffic may be net-based.
A May 2001 report from US corporate adviser Frost &
Sullivan (Frost)
was even more upbeat, claiming that during 2000 global
wholesale and retail VoIP traffic topped 6 billion and
15 billion minutes respectively. In promoting the report
Frost forecasts that VoIP will account for 75% of the
world's voice telecommunications traffic by 2007.
Uptake of VoIP reflects the emergence of major carriers
that are likely to drive traffic volume growth, invest
heavily in infrastructure, improve consumer perceptions,
leverage large commercial/domestic client lists and lobby
for favourable regulatory treatment. Frost claims that
internet telephony is no longer restricted to individuals
who are enthusiastic, indifferent to quality and highly
cost conscious.
Frost argues that VoIP will continue to enjoy a cost advantage
for some time (e.g. around 70% cheaper than standard international
charges) and forecasts that in the five years to 2006
IP telephony traffic will expand at a compound annual
growth rate of 90%.
security
An introduction to security issues is provided by the
2005 US National Institute of Standards & Technology
(NIST) study on Security Considerations for Voice
Over IP Systems (PDF)
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