Telof eyes voIP deployment

THE GOVERNMENT’S Telecommunications Office (Telof) is set to deploy a voice-over-Internet Protocol (voIP) service to unserved areas in the Philippines.

As a government-owned entity, Telof can offer voIP services in any area in the country without needing congressional franchise, Elberto Emphasis, commissioner of both Telof and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), said in a statement.

Emphasis, did not elaborate on how Telof would implement its voIP service, but his statement comes at the heels of a major debate between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunications carriers over control of voIP service deployment in the country.

Telof was formerly under the Department of Transportation and Communication until it was taken over by the CICT early last year.

The National Telecommunications Commission has proposed in its new draft rules that voIP be classified as a value-added service, which would permit ISPs to offer it. Under its current classification as a voice service, only telecom firms with a franchise from Congress can offer commercial voIP services.

[source: inQ7 article by Alexander F. Villafania | May 16, 2005]