International Telecommunication Union

Internet Challenges &IP Telephony

Connect 2001Cancun, October 16-18, 2001

Robert Shaw<robert.shaw@itu.int>

ITU Internet Strategy and Policy AdvisorInternational Telecommunication Union

The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its membership.

International Telecommunication Union

13

291396

0

100

200

300

400

1999 2000 2001

Growth in Submarine Cable Capacity to South America (in Gbps)

Internet in Latin America& Caribbean (LAC)

• mid-2000 to mid-2001, international Internet connectivity to Latin America & Caribbean grew 500%

• Growth twice as fast as any other world region

• 2,500% growth between Latin America countries

• Fastest growth of anyintra-regional bandwidth

Source: Telegeography, Packet Geography 2001

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Inter-regional Internet backbone357 Mbit/s

19’716 Mbit/s

Asia-Pacific

LatinAmerica &Caribbean

2’638 Mbit/s

127 Mbit/s

Arab States, Africa

468 Mbit/s 171

Mbit/s

Europe

56’241 Mbit/sUSA &Canada

Source: TeleGeography Inc., Global Backbone Database. Data valid for Sept. 2000.

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Top Latin America & CaribbeanInternet Hub Cities in 2001

Rank City, Country Internet Bandwidth (Mbps)

1 Miami, USA 7,825

2 São Paulo, Brazil 4,984

3 Buenos Aires, Argentina 4,017

4 Mexico City, Mexico 2,182

5 New York, USA 2,003

6 Santiago, Chile 1,770

7 Dallas, USA 1,546

8 Monterrey, Mexico 1,077

9 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1,029

10 Los Angeles, USA 975

Source: Telegeography, Packet Geography 2001

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Top Latin America International Internet Routes

Rank City, Country City, Country Internet Bandwidth (Mbps)

1 São Paulo, Brazil Miami, USA 3,384

2 Buenos Aires, Argentina Miami, USA 1,455

3 Mexico City, Mexico Dallas, USA 1,340

4 Buenos Aires, Argentina Santiago, Chile 824

5 Buenos Aires, Argentina New York, USA 698

6 Buenos Aires, Argentina São Paulo, Brazil 666

7 Monterrey, Mexico Los Angeles, USA 656

8 Santiago, Chile Miami, US 503

9 São Paulo, Brazil New York, USA 475

10 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil New York, USA 378

Source: Telegeography, Packet Geography 2001

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IP Telephony: What is it?• Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony is a generic term

describing voice or fax carried over IP-based networks, such as the Internet.

• IP Telephony is important:– In the short-term, because it cuts the cost of calls,

especially if routed over the public Internet– In the longer-term, because telecoms carriers are

migrating their separate voice and data networks to converged IP-based networks

• Examples of IP Telephony Service Providers include Net2Phone, Dialpad.com, iBasis, etc.

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Why is IP Telephony important?IP Telephony traffic, in million minutes

0.0% 0.2%

1.6%

5.5%

3.2%

0

1'000

2'000

3'000

4'000

5'000

6'000

7'000

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

As percentage of int'l outgoing traffic

Source: ITU Internet Reports, adapted from TeleGeography Inc.

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IP Telephony Flavours• Often treated differently from policy or

regulatory perspective– Carried solely across the public Internet– IP is underlying transport or signalling

technology for PSTN services (e.g., using SS7)– IP telephony on full end-to-end “private” IP

networks (e.g., using “softswitch technology”)– Combinations of the above with gateways

between Internet or private IP-based networks and the PSTN

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Country positions on IP Telephony189 ITU Member States

As of March 2001. Based on responses to ITU regulatory questionnaire and inputs to WTPF-01.

No policy orNo response

98

Prohibited35

Regulated if "real-time"

7

Unregulated, 26 countries

Unregulated if not "real-time", 18

Light regulation

5

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Pricing IP Voice Services• In high-price, monopoly markets

– Where permitted, IP Telephony creates opportunities for low-cost calls

– Even if not permitted, IP Telephony is widely used to reduce costs of international call termination

• In markets in transition to competition– IP Telephony offers a route towards early introduction

of competition and creates downward pressure on prices

• In competitive, low-price markets– Main market opportunity for IP Telephony is in value-

added services, e.g., unified messaging

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What are the Key Issues?• Technical:

– How to define IP Telephony?– Is quality of service comparable? Will it improve?– How to handle numbering/addressing issues?

• Economic:– What price and cost savings can be expected?– How quickly will carriers migrate their networks?– Isn’t it just a form of bypass of telecom monopolies?

• Regulatory:– Is it voice or is it data?– License it? Prohibit it? Restrict it? Liberalise it?– Should IP Telephony providers contribute to Universal Service?

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ITU Information Resources• ITU Internet Reports 2001: IP Telephony

– http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/inet/2000/• 2001 World Telecommunication Policy Forum: IP

Telephony– http://www.itu.int/wtpf/

• Secretary General’s Report on IP Telephony– http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wtpf/wtpf2001/sgreport/

• ITU Internet Country Case Studies– http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/

• IP Telephony Case Studies (e.g., Bolivia, Columbia, Peru)– http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wtpf/wtpf2001/casestudies/

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ITU Information Resources• ITU News Article on IP Telephony

– http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/material/IPTelephony.pdf • BDT’s Meeting on WTPF Opinion D Part 3

– http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/e-strategy/internet/iptelephony/ • Workshop on Internet and IP Telephony, Lima, Perú,

18-20 July 2001– http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/e-strategy/internet/iptelephony/

Seminars/perujuly2001/• Note on IP Telephony for Americas Regional

Prepatory Meeting (16-18 October 2001) for WTDC 2002– http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/pdf/3982-007-en.PDF

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ITU Information Resources• ITU-T Study Group 13: Lead Study Group for IP

related matters– http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com13/

• Some SG13 IP Overview Matters– http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com13/ip/

• ENUM (E.164 Numbering Plan Mapped to DNS)– http://www.itu.int/infocom/enum/ and http://www.itu.int/ITU-

T/studygroups/com02/ • Packetizer: A resource for packet-switched

conversational protocols (technical site by Rapporteur of ITU-T Q.2/16 dealing with H.323)– http://www.packetizer.com/