Singapore to Issue VoIP Numbers
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore plans to issue phone
numbers for VoIP providers in Singapore, just as subscribers of fixed-line
and mobile telephone services receive phone numbers, says Leong Keng Thai,
the IDA's deputy chief executive and director general of telecommunications.
While IDA has not issued a forecast for how many phone numbers will be
issued for VoIP, officials have allocated a very large amount of phone
numbers for IP telephony, and those numbers will start appearing in a few
months.
IDA has set aside an entire "level" of phone numbers, in this case a block
of eight-digit numbers beginning with the number 3, Leong says. These phone
numbers will be sold off to operators in blocks of 10,000 numbers that are
priced at S$25,000 (US$14,886).
If more than one operator wants a particular block of numbers, such as a
block that contains numbers such as 8 or 6, which are considered lucky in
Chinese culture, these numbers will be sold in an auction to the highest
bidder, he says.
VoIP providers, though, will not be required to offer access to emergency
services. However, providers that offer full replacement services for POTS
(plain old telephone service) will be eligible for numbers that are
reserved for standard wireline accounts. Some marketing executives oppose
the use of "VoIP number ghettos," as they once opposed the use of "CLEC or
wireless specific" number blocks.
V0IP service providers not operating on a "bring your own broadband" basis
that are willing to guarantee a higher level of service, including access
to emergency phone services, will have access to phone numbers from the
level 6 numbers. These eight-digit phone numbers starting with the number 6
are reserved for fixed-line phones in Singapore.
These VoIP operators must fully interconnect with other licensed telecom
providers and must offer number portability. As would be the case for
legacy telecom providers, the level 6 VoIP accounts must be sold only to
domestic customers. On the other hand, level 3 numbers can be sold anywhere
in the world.
As some observers have pointed out, VoIP inherently is a global service and
can be bought and used virtually anyplace in the world. So saddling United
States providers with emergency calling and other regulations might
theoretically place them at a disadvantage in what is slowly becoming a
global market. In other words, a U.S. customer could use a Singapore-based
provider as their "local" telephone company.
Singapore appears to be one of the first countries that has created a VoIP
regime that recognizes this fact. Local VoIP customers, using POTS
replacement services, must have the same sorts of services POTS customers
typically get. But VoIP customers anyplace else in the world still can buy
a less-regulated service without those obligations.
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