VoIP classification 'an interesting issue'

VoIP is increasing in popularity all the time and the technology faces an interesting period in the US in terms of regulation, according to one commentator.

Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation, wrote in an article for CNET that the development of the regulatory framework surrounding the technology will be important in the coming years.

How these rules are developed will centre on whether VoIP should be classified as a service providing information or telecommunications, Mr May stated.

In other words, he continued, the question is whether VoIP provides computing functionality or a straight swap for the traditional telephone.

"If VoIP falls under telecommunications, then it is subject to public-utility economic regulation. If it is an information service, then it is not," the expert explained.

In his opinion, Mr May remarked, rapidly expanding and increasingly competitive marketplace for IP telephony provided no real justification for traditional economic regulation.

His view comes after the Press and Journal recently suggested VoIP services will render traditional phone lines obsolete within ten years.