Industry group issues standards for mobile VoIP

Network operators and handset manufacturers have been offered guidance on restricting VoIP features on mobile phones by the Open Mobile Terminal Alliance (OMTA) industry group.

This follows controversy over the perceived banning of VoIP services by Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile earlier this year and the document attempts to lay out the rules over whether such practices are justifiable.

Although they do not cover some downloadable VoIP applications like Frong or Vyke, the new OMTP specifications say that mobile operators are entitled to take action against preinstalled VoIP services.

However, once the phone is no longer under contract with that operator, they must make it possible to remove the handset's VoIP lock - in a similar way to how they allow handsets to become SIM-free and be used on another network.

If they choose to enforce a lock on these preinstalled applications, then operators must make it clear they have done so rather than simply remove items from the menu as has been the tactic in the past.

Although the document is not binding, many networks including Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3 were involved in the writing and so may be inclined to follow these guidelines.