‘Voice on the Net Coalition Europe’ a new Lobby Group

A new lobby group know as the 'Voice on the Net Coalition Europe' was set up and launched on 14 December. It was set up to try to influence the regulation of the Internet in Europe. The group is made up of large suppliers like Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Skype.

.           The new group, Voice on the Net Coalition Europe also known as VON Coalition Europe has stated that it will work to educate, inform, and promote responsible government policies that enable innovation and the many benefits that Internet voice innovations can deliver.

Earlier on, precisely in November, the European Commission brought forth a proposal on regulatory changes that would require VoIP providers to enable calls to emergency services. In this light, the Office of Communications, which is the telecommunications regulator in the UK, has now mandated that such access must be made available by September 2008. Top VoIP providers such as Skype, did not agree with the proposal. Their argument was that VoIP is a complement to, and not a replacement for the conventional telephony services.

From what we gathered from Stephen Collins, the director of global governmental and regulatory affairs at Skype, the company says that Internet-enabled communications are an entirely new genre of communications products, services, and applications and a new frontier in communications for individuals and businesses alike. In the opinion of Skype, in order to unleash their vast benefits, policymakers need to embrace forward-thinking policy approaches.

In a further statement, Stephen Collins has this to say, "If we automatically subject this new technology to legacy telephone regulation, consumers, and business users could miss out on the new services, increased choices, better prices, and improved features that VoIP, for example, can deliver.

In a statement made at the launching of this lobby group, the coalition claimed that the premature application of emergency call rules to Web sites, click-to-dial services, one-way public switched telephone-network voice services, and other VoIP services that are not a replacement for traditional home or business phone services could actually harm public safety, stifle innovations critical to people with disabilities, stall competition, and limit access to innovative and evolving communication options where there is no expectation of placing a 112 call.