VOIP regulation

Canada's telecommunications regulator appears to nearing a problematic fork in the road with the emergence of new VOIP services. CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen says the $10-billion local telephony industry will be regulated, regardless of the technology used to provide it. If this is the case, where does leave the CRTC's decision in 1999 to not regulate the Internet, which, in theory, could include VOIP? The CRTC could find itself with some difficult decisions to make if VOIP starts to catch on and finally provides viable competition to incumbent carriers such as Bell Canada and Telus. If, for example, the CRTC does not regulate VOIP, what happens if Vonage, AOL Canada and Primus build healthy market share? Clearly, Bell, Telus, et al would not be happy, and they would likely push the CRTC to do two things: regulate VOIP or deregulate traditional local services. Either way, the incumbent carriers want a level playing field. If Dalfen's recent comments are any indication, there will be some kind of regulation, although one suspects it will be minimal to keep incumbent carriers happy. Personally, regulators in Canada and the U.S. have a little bit of time before they are forced to act because VOIP is far from being a consumer-friendly service. For the time being, it will be a cool tool for young, techie guys. That said, the regulators need to create a framework for VOIP soon so everyone knows the landscape.