"In terms of suppliers to Australian customers, the most popular service was Astratel with 31 per cent of the market, followed by Oztell with 27.6 per cent of the market and Engin with 23 per cent."
Consumer alert for internet telephony
March 28, 2006
A telecommunications consumer body has called for "urgent consumer protection" in the voice-over-IP telephone market, as it identified call quality and access to emergency services as pressing issues.
Internet telephony, popularised by vendors such as Skype, is transforming the way many consumers are using traditional telephone networks.
However in a survey of 87 users of internet telephone services the Consumers' Telecommunications Network (CTN) found that well over 60 per cent of consumers surveyed had experienced echo, noise or voice dropout on their calls.
A further 20 per cent had trouble connecting to landline and mobile numbers, and over 12 per cent had problems connecting to other VoIP numbers.
Also of concern to the CTN was that 36 per cent of those surveyed had already replaced a standard telephone line or mobile phone with a VoIP service. It described this development as a worrying result considering the lack of existing industry codes or guidelines.
A major obstacle in the emerging VoIP sector is that a number of international services are not able to access local emergency services, while others that can access them may not provide those services with accurate location information of the caller in the case of a serious accident.
"The fact that 15 per cent of those surveyed had tried to make an urgent call using their VoIP service and been unable to should ring alarm bells, specifically regarding access to emergency services," the CTN said.
In spite of this, 23 per cent of VoIP users surveyed felt that their VoIP provider advertised their service as a replacement for a telephone line, and 17 per cent said their providers had not supplied enough information, or gave them confusing or false information.
The CTN, which represents community interests in the national telecommunications policy arena, warned that a serious consumer incident would generate bad publicity for VoIP in Australia and undermine its long-term take up.
"Industry must deliver in these areas, regardless of the complex technical issues and corporate relationships that may exist behind the scenes," it said.
In terms of suppliers to Australian customers, the most popular service was Astratel with 31 per cent of the market, followed by Oztell with 27.6 per cent of the market and Engin with 23 per cent.
However almost half of the consumers surveyed had used overseas VoIP providers, demonstrating significant global competition in the market, potentially making future industry regulation even more problematic.
Late last year, Communications Minister Helen Coonan said the Government saw no "immediate need for any changes to the regulatory framework" for VoIP communications but would support the introduction of a new number range to help develop the services.
