Singapore's big leap to IP

Inaugurating imbX 2005, the mega tradeshow organized by Singapore's
Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) minister for information communication and
the arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, spoke about the new opportunities provided by
digital technology, the need for countries and governments to adapt quickly, and
specifically talked about the promise of VoIP.

Immediately afterward, IDA officials announced the new IP policy opening up a
tightly regulated telecom market to IP telephony-and to one of the most liberal
policy regimes in existence. The policy would allow a host of players to allow
IP telephony through traditional eight-digit phone numbers, but at a new

level '3' competing with the incumbents such as SingTel.

These numbers (for example, 3478-1234) would differentiate the IP service to
the user, who would thus be aware that QoS might be inferior to traditional TDM
services. While IP telephony has been in existence for years (for instance, the
Skype service), it does not usually use phone numbers, but user IDs.

As is usual for IP telephony, the user would be able to use the service from
anywhere in the world with a broadband connection. Subscribers will be able to
use either software on PCs, or IP phones that look and work like plain old
phones.

With this policy, most traditional regulatory restrictions on telephony would
not apply. For instance, no QoS (quality of service specs) restrictions, no
emergency services mandate, no need for phonebook or directory services.
However, those wishing to comply with these latter options could qualify for a
special license and get a traditional level '6' number (for instance
6247-1234) for Singapore residents' use only. Such a service would be
indistinguishable from a regular TDM-based phone service, only a lot cheaper for
long distance calls.

By contrast, India is several steps behind on the IP regulatory framework.
While consumer use of IP telephony is allowed for PC to PC use, and services
like Skype-Out can be used for calling public numbers outside India, corporate
use of VoIP is still bogged down by regulation. It requires companies to run a
VoIP network for their closed user group that is separate from their traditional
analog voice PBX, and interconnects are disallowed. While this was partly
relaxed early this year with a single physical network being allowed on a
case-by-case basis, a DoT notification on March 17 reversed that relaxation,
pushing back progress on IP technology in India by a year or more.

The imbX (Infocomm Media Business Exchange) tradeshow incorporates
CommunicAsia, Broadcast Asia and EnterpriseIT. With 2,238 exhibitors from 55
countries, the event expects to draw 59,000 international attendees (nearly half
from overseas) and focuses on next generation networks, VoIP, WiMAX, 3G,
biometrics, and telco services, apart from broadcast technologies such as
interactive TV and radio and mobile entertainment.

PRASANTO KUMAR ROY

(The author traveled to imbX at the hospitality of the Singapore IDA)