Source: www.voip-news.com

NeuStar, Inc. has successfully trialed its SIP-IX VoIP Interconnection Exchange service. The company used four competitive local exchange providers for the trial.

“We’re glad to have been working with NeuStar during this trial,” said Jerry James, CEO of COMPTEL. “Our members that participated in the trial have told us that NeuStar’s VoIP Interconnection Exchange service performed exactly as NeuStar promised it would. We look forward to the next phase of this project.”

FYI:

A detailed panel discussion regarding the benefits and technical aspects of VoIP interconnection will be held on Tuesday, October 7 at 11:00 a.m. at the COMPTEL Plus Fall 2008 Convention & Expo. The COMPTEL event will be held October 5-8 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida. Tim Cody, NeuStar’s Senior Director of Product Management, who conducted the SIP-IX Interconnection Exchange service trial with the COMPTEL members, will be one of the presenters on this panel.

Source: www.voip-news.com

VoIP carriers abroad must now allow emergency calls via their VoIP to landline systems and also provide location information where feasible, thanks to a ruling by regulator Ofcom. Emergency is 999 in the UK and 112 most elsewhere there.

The problem was highlighted after a Calgary, Canada, child died after a VoIP emergency call was placed and gave the wrong location of the emergency. Critics of the regulation say that there are some services that don’t have a reasonable expectation of needing to make emergency calls from the phone because they aren’t intended as landline replacements.

Read more here.

Source: www.voip-news.com

So, the FCC finally issued their official ruling on net neutrality. Have you heard the rundown yet? The gist is that the FCC doesn’t think that any new laws are necessary, which means that laws are highly subjective. Moreover, that means that whoever is influencing policy can influence how laws are interpreted. Course that doesn’t mean good things . . .

Want to know more about the ruling? VoIP News has you covered. Read this article for more information.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Can you hear me now?

Clearer VoIP calls are headed to Brazil thanks to the implementation of technology to ensure clearer calls. Brazillian IT and telecom solutions provider, Leucotron, is embedding Global IP Solutions (GIPS) voice technology into its IP-PBX telephones to ensure high-quality calls.

“Leucotron has over 100,000 customers in our client base serving over 2 million users,” said Dilson Morales, CEO of Leucotron. “It is important for Latin America businesses to ensure the best quality phone communication, which is why Leucotron is implementing GIPS iLBC technology to ensure a high-standard of call quality.”

GIPS’ technologies were created to ensure quality VoIP calls, even over congested networks.

“Leucotron is renowned as a major player in the Brazilian IP Telephony Market,” said Steve Rust, vice president of business development at Global IP Solutions. “Their commitment to customers is evident in their use of the best technology. GIPS VoIP technology will enable Leucotron to continue innovating to ensure maximum efficiency and quality for their customers’ telecommunications.”

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

It looks like the barrier to entry for Mobile VoIP keeps getting lower and lower, as SipGate, a European player in the game has struck a deal with Pirelli to be able to sell their dual mode phone for under 60 Euros.

At the same time, the patent protection firms seem to be going into the Mobile VoIP business.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Voice Over IP Weblog reports that Fring and Boingo are teaming up. But why? What’s the benefit? Read it here.

Sipcall’s new Hipsip lets you make free VoIP calls from any mobile phone. Pretty nifty. Read about it on the UK’s VoIP-News.

SIPVicious is doing some more blogging from Blackhat Europe. Read it here.

Source: www.voip-news.com

There’s a great article about VoIP statistics and Europe over at TeleGeography. It seems as those VoIP is really exploding in the European markets, with traditional telephone providers and new companies all vying for a piece of the pie.

Here’s a snippet:

Consumer VoIP subscriber growth continues to soar in Western Europe, reaching 21.7 million at mid-year 2007, up from 15.6 million only six months earlier. TeleGeography estimates that the ranks of European VoIP subscribers had grown to 28.9 million by year-end 2007.

While VoIP is often associated with competitive carriers and cable companies, many European incumbents have counter attacked by launching their own VoIP services, often with great success. France Telecom has emerged as by far the largest consumer VoIP provider in Europe, while BT, Telecom Italia, and KPN all rank among the top ten European VoIP operators.

Read more here.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Net Neutrality used to be a big buzz word for a bill before Congress. But that is so last year.

These days, the bill is about internet freedom and it’s a bit different from the previous incarnation. But this one could succeed where the other bill failed - and it stands a good chance of passage.

Read about it here on VoIP-News.

Source: voipcentral.org

After reducing mobile roaming charges by 75 percent for European customers, the European Union (EU) has now moved up to introduce new rules to liberalize local telecom market from former EU phone monopolies.

The Union will be forming a new agency dubbed as the European Telecom Market Authority (ETMA), which would enforce former EU phone monopolies to officially restructure to open their networks to greater competition. Viviane Reding, the European Commission for telecommunications has envisaged this, reports the International Herald Tribune in a two-page story.

The new agency will be constituted with directors of 27 EU national telecommunications agencies. The agency will have the authority to overrule national regulators and interfere in domestic markets.

EU will empower the newly constituted agency to look after the issues relating to telecom regulations. The vital power that bestowed upon the agency is to regulate the former EU phone monopolies to legally open their networks to enable competitors equal access.

The proposal will be sent for commissioners approval in November this year. If the commissioners give green signal, then it will be presented before the EU telecommunications ministers next year. Finally, the proposal will be tabled in the European Parliament for legal thumb.

Source: voipcentral.org

When we discuss about cheap and innovative VoIP service, I may refer the name Jajah first. For, it is continuing its experiments with cheap VoIP offers since inception. I have reported here about European Unions decision to bring down mobile roaming costs by 75 percent within its member states. Going by the decision, a mobile user in Europe needs to pay just 34p for per minute call. Jajah is now providing international calls cheaper than the EU-prescribed price.

Austria-based Jajah has introduced Jajah Roam Home service, a kind of international phone roaming service that enables customers to make 1.7p a minute call from their hotel landlines.

Jajah is targeting the travelers with this offer. You just need to register at Jajah site and enter the hotel phone number and room extension before departure. Then you can call to the desired number by using a web-connected computer or Symbian based phones. This service is available in the leading EU countries such as France, Spain and Italy.

Speaking to Computeractive, Jajah co-founder Roman Scharf said,

Whilst it is understandable that mobile phone providers need to make their money back from the licenses they have had to pay for in each country it is not fair to charge consumers over the odds.

Jajah is a simple application. It enables computer users to make free or minimal cost phone calls using VOIP without headphones, microphones, and software downloads. It doesn’t even require high speed Internet connections.

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