Russia Plans to Ban VoIP Services
The cheap calls, both local and international, as offered by VoIP
services might after all be a real threat to Traditional Telecom
Companies. We all know that routing calls via this means is much more
cheaper than doing so through the traditional means and as many people
are opting for VoIP services it appears the traditional telecom are
aware the danger this poses to their business.
This became obvious when a Russian business lobby and members of
Parliament submitted a draft of a legislation that could limit or even
ban the use of voice over Internet phone companies like Skype. They
are concerned that local landline and mobile companies such as
TransTeleComs and MegaFon will struggle to compete with foreign VoIP
competitors.
Although helping local telecommunications companies seems to be
Russia’s main issue with VoIP, there are also thought to be concern
regarding security. The government are apparently worried that VoIP
can’t be wiretapped like landline telephone’s and have expressed
concern that it could be a risk to national security.
Responding to this proposition, Skype stated that “The imposition of
such surcharges unfair and discriminatory against the services
involved, which are a threat to phone company revenue from voice
calling.”
The government is yet to finalize issue on this and we are patiently
waiting to see what their final decision would be but in any case we
expect that their would be some sort of restriction if not banned on
the activities of VoIP providers in the country. Customers are likely
to be unhappy as this means that they will not benefit from the cost
savings. The good news for customers elsewhere and for VoIP providers
is that other nations are unlikely to follow Russia’s lead.
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