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Regulating services using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - A summary

Published: 26 July 2007
Closing date for responses: 20 September 2007

What this consultation is about

We (Ofcom) are the independent regulator of television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services in the UK.

We are consulting people about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services (which let you call ordinary fixed-line and mobile phone numbers using the internet). We are asking whether some VoIP companies should be made to offer 999 calls as part of their service. You can see in detail how and why we think we should do that in the document ‘ Regulation of VoIP Services: Access to Emergency Services’ on our website at www.ofcom.org.uk. This webpage is a summary of that full document.

This summary is relevant to all VoIP services, but especially those that allow you to make calls to ordinary fixed lines (landlines) or mobile phones. It is also relevant to:

  • companies that provide public voice services using other technology;
  • the emergency services; and
  • ordinary people who make and receive phone calls.

The traditional phone services we all know and use have existed for over 100 years. VoIP services started about five or six years ago, and have had an increasing effect on the way people make phone calls.

To make a call, VoIP services use a broadband internet connection instead of a normal fixed or mobile-phone line. Customers normally connect their broadband to a computer that has VoIP technology on it and make calls using a special handset or headset. Or they connect their broadband to a special adaptor and make calls using a traditional phone. VoIP calls are sometimes cheaper than normal phone calls and VoIP companies offer new services, increasing competition among phone and broadband companies.

When technology changes, you would normally benefit most when:

  •  new technology can be introduced quickly;
  • regulations don’t get in the way of new services; and
  • there is fair competition between old and new technology and the services they are used for.

As a technology develops, we continue to review our rules that are designed to protect you, the customer.

In the early days we consulted everyone involved in VoIP, from network operators to their customers. On 6 September 2004 we published a consultation document called ‘ New Voice Services: A consultation and Interim Guidance’ (the ‘2004 Consultation’). Our proposals took account of relevant European Union directives and the fact that VoIP services were still relatively new.

On 22 February 2006 we published our second consultation ‘Regulation of VoIP Services’ (the ‘2006 Consultation’), and on 29 March 2007 we published ‘Statement on the Regulation of VoIP Services’ (the ‘March 2007 Statement’). The 2006 Consultation reflected the changes in the market, in technology and in regulation, since 2004.

Our main proposals

One of the most important features of traditional phone services is that they can put you in touch with the emergency services. The UK’s 999 service was launched back in 1937. It was the first of its kind in the world, and by 1948 every major town and city could connect to it. In 1986, the service was extended to include mobile phones and, today, BT handles around 30 million 999 calls a year from fixed lines and mobile phones.

Although some VoIP services let you call the emergency services, others don’t. We are worried that this could be confusing, and risky if it delayed you contacting the emergency services when you needed help urgently.

This is our main priority in this consultation – to make sure you can use VoIP services to dial 999, and that we can all benefit from the best possible access to emergency help if we need it. We want to make it compulsory that any VoIP service that can reach an ordinary phone number should also be able to reach 999.

A guide to our full consultation document

You can see our full consultation document on our website at www.ofcom.org.uk, but the following is a summary of its main parts.

Sections 2 and 3 (Introduction and background)

These sections provide some background on VoIP services and our previous approach to them. In particular, they talk about:

  • our 2004 and 2006 Consultations, the March 2007 Statement, our main aims at those times and the plans we made;
  • recent developments in VoIP services that have influenced how we think about VoIP (specifically for this consultation);
  • a review of the main legal regulations; and
  • what other countries do about regulating VoIP services and calls to emergency numbers.

Our aims in the 2004 Consultation were to make sure that you had proper information and protection when using VoIP services. In 2006, we added that we wanted to see the 999 service continue to be as widely available as possible, as phone services and technology changed.

To meet those aims, we required VoIP companies to keep to a code of practice, which we and representatives of these companies wrote. The code says that these companies must give their personal and small business customers clear information on the differences between VoIP, mobile phone and fixed line services. Also, if their customers cannot dial 999 from these services, companies must warn them with a recorded message when the customer tries to dial 999. They must also put a warning on their website or give the customer warning labels to put on their equipment. The code of practice came into force on 29 May 2007.

We also set out guidelines to help certain VoIP providers (those that provide services that allow you to make calls to ordinary numbers or to make and receive calls from ordinary numbers) to meet particular standards. These guidelines look at providing the emergency services with information about where someone is calling from and making a service reliable to handle 999 calls. The guidelines came into force on 29 March 2007.

Finally, Ofcom changed the rule that lets you bring your current phone number with you when you change to a new phone company. For this to be possible, your new company must allow you to make emergency calls.

Section 4 (Policy proposal)

This sets out:

  • what we aim to achieve in this consultation;
  • the challenges we face in meeting those aims;
  • how we think we’ll deal with those challenges; and
  • the steps we think we should take.

In the March 2007 Statement, we decided to look again at how we made sure that access to 999 was as widely available as possible. This was because of the following.

  • Since the 2006 Consultation, VoIP services had become more popular. Around 10% of UK households were using VoIP services in the last four months of 2006, compared to 5% just 12 months before.
  • Significant developments in VoIP services and technology meant that they were more likely to look and feel like traditional fixed and mobile-phone services, and that they were more likely to replace these traditional services for most people in the future.
  • There weren’t enough VoIP services that allowed 999 calls. Our research in October 2006 showed that 64% of households with VoIP had a service that wouldn’t allow them to call 999.
  • The same research showed that many people who used VoIP were confused about whether they could use it to call 999. 78% of UK households with VoIP wrongly thought that their service would let them call 999, or didn’t know either way.
  • The emergency services, the Government, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) all responded to our 2006 Consultation with similar concerns.

For these reasons we promised to carry out another consultation on whether certain VoIP services should be made to offer 999 calls – and, if so, how this should be done. This consultation is the result. We also said that we would study whether the cost for some VoIP companies of providing 999 access would have any effects on healthy competition between businesses and whether it might put new companies off coming into the market. For example, if smaller companies couldn't afford to provide 999 access, they might stop providing VoIP services, which means less choice for customers.

We believe there are two options.

  • Option 1: We decide there’s no need to require VoIP services to allow 999 calls.
  • Option 2: We decide it’s necessary to require all VoIP services that allow calls to ordinary numbers to also allow calls to 999.

For the reasons above, and the following reasons, we are recommending Option 2.

  • Our research suggests that on its own, better information will not be enough to improve the level of 999 access, or make people less confused about whether they can call 999 from a VoIP service.
  • VoIP is growing and becoming more and more similar to ‘normal’ phone services, but there’s one clear difference – VoIP is the only voice call service that doesn’t have to connect you to 999.
  • We believe you will benefit considerably if VoIP companies have to give you access to 999, and these benefits will outweigh the costs that VoIP companies would face in keeping to the new rules.

That means we don't believe there would be any significant effects on healthy competition between companies or on new companies entering the market.

Section 5 (Compulsory 999 access)

This section is about the effects of making it compulsory for VoIP companies to offer 999 calls. It looks at the challenges this rule would present to VoIP companies, particularly being able to tell the emergency services where a caller is ringing from. VoIP companies that allow users to receive calls from regular or ‘ordinary’ phone numbers as well as to call ordinary numbers would also have to meet standards to make sure their services are reliable when you use them to call 999. Our guidelines will help VoIP companies to understand how to do these things.

Currently, all VoIP companies that offer a ‘publicly available telephone service’ (or ‘PATS’) must allow you to call 999. (Some other VoIP services allow emergency calls, but they do not have to.)

PATS providers also have to keep to other rules, which are mainly about protecting you (their customers), such as:

  • making it clear what their prices cover;
  • producing clear terms and conditions;
  • making sure their bills are accurate and itemised;
  • giving you access to basic services like directory enquiries; and
  • adapting services for disabled customers.

By using Option 2, any VoIP company that allows you to receive calls from ordinary numbers as well as to call ordinary numbers is likely to be a PATS and would have to follow the PATS rules.

Following this consultation, if we decide to use Option 2, we are planning to give VoIP companies three months’ notice to prepare for allowing you to make 999 calls, and to work in line with the rules that come with this service.

We would enforce, check and review this policy to make sure that VoIP companies are keeping to the rules, and to see whether we need to adapt any of our regulations.

Section 6 (Summary of the impact assessment)

This is about the bigger picture – our study of the benefits that making 999 calls compulsory might have and what it might cost. You can see the full impact assessment in annex 5.

Section 7

This explains how we would change our current rules so that all VoIP companies that connect calls to ordinary numbers would have to allow 999 calls.

Section 8

This describes what we will do next after we have finished this consultation. This includes how we’ll:

  • check what’s happening in the VoIP market;
  • review our progress; and
  • make sure that VoIP companies are following our rules.

Tell us what you think

We want to hear your views and, in particular, your answers to some questions we have prepared. You can find these questions on our website at www.ofcom.org.uk.

Your answers will be important in helping us decide the rules that we should set for VoIP services and 999 calls.

When to tell us what you think

Please send us your comments no later than 5pm on 20 September 2007. Once we’ve looked at everyone’s views, we plan to make a statement in the autumn about what we’ve decided.

How to tell us what you think

Please e-mail your answers and comments to us (in Microsoft Word format) because this helps us to process them quickly and effectively. Please also fill in a ‘response cover sheet’ (see annex 3 of the full consultation document) to tell us whether you want us to keep your comments confidential. You can also download the cover sheet from the ‘Consultations’ section of our website.

Please e-mail your answers and comments to Helen.Keefe@ofcom.org.uk. Or, send it to the address below.

Helen Keefe
Competition Group
Ofcom
Riverside House
2A Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA
Fax: 020 7783 4901

We do not normally tell you we have received your comments. You do not need to send us your answers and comments in writing if you’ve sent them to us by e-mail.

More information

If you want to discuss this consultation or need advice on how to respond, please phone Helen Keefe on 020 7783 4963.

Confidentiality

We believe it is important for everyone interested in an issue to see the comments people have sent us. This means we will usually publish your response on our website (www.ofcom.org.uk), as long as you have given us permission to do so on your response cover sheet.

We only treat comments as confidential if you ask us to, and if you keep them separate from any information that is not confidential and that we can publish.

If you ask us to keep all or part of your response confidential we will do our best to do that. But sometimes, we will have to publish all responses, including the confidential ones, in order to meet our legal responsibilities.

If your answers or comments include any information protected by intellectual property like copyright or a trade mark, we will assume that you give us permission to use that information to meet our legal responsibilities. You can find more on our website at: www.ofcom.org.uk/about_ofcom/gov_accountability/disclaimer.

Next steps

Following the end of the consultation period, we plan to publish a statement in autumn 2007.

You can register to receive e-mails when we publish our documents by visiting www.ofcom.org.uk/static/subscribe/select_list.htm.

Our consultation process

We are keen to make it easy for you to tell us what you think about our consultations and have published some principles (in annex 2 of the full consultation document), which we aim to follow. This includes how long our consultations last.

If you have any comments or suggestions on how we carry out our consultations, please call our consultation helpdesk on 020 7981 3003. Or, e-mail us at consult@ofcom.org.uk. We particularly welcome your views on how we could encourage people who are less likely to respond to formal consultations (such as small businesses and residential customers) to take part.

If you would like to discuss these issues, or our consultation processes more generally, please contact Vicki Nash, Director for Scotland.

Vicki Nash
Ofcom Scotland
Sutherland House
149 St Vincent Street
Glasgow
G2 5NW
Phone: 0141 229 7401
Fax: 0141 229 7433
E-mail: vicki.nash@ofcom.org.uk

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