TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Bell Canada Launches VoIP without Reg Approval

Bell Canada Launches VoIP without Reg Approval

Jack Decker (jack-yahoogroups@withheld)
Fri, 01 Apr 2005 19:22:46 -0500

http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/54h115345379033.html

By Charlotte Wolter

In a move that could put it head to head with Canadian regulator CRTC
(Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Council), Bell
Canada (BCE Inc.) has launched its consumer voice-over-IP service,
Bell Digital Voice, in one of its local service areas without waiting
for approval by the regulatory authority.

The CRTC has been in the process of developing explicit policies for
VoIP services, but is not expected to issue formal regulations until
later this year. In the meantime, Bell Canada has launched the service
in three locations in Quebec province: Sherbrooke, Quebec City and
Trois-Rivieres, after a trial of several months in Sherbrooke.

"Bell Canada is throwing down the gauntlet," says Jon Arnold,
principal of J. Arnold Associates, a VoIP consulting firm. "They
are saying, 'You are taking too long to make a decision on VoIP.' "

Bell Canada is using the carefully chosen term 'retail Internet
applications' to describe its new service. The reason for the wording
is the only explicit CRTC regulation on Internet services is a 1998
ruling that exempts 'retail Internet applications' from pricing
regulations.

Full story at:
http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/54h115345379033.html

How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html

If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/

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