Proposed emergency call rules resisted by European lobby group

Launched on 14 December, the group includes large suppliers like Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Skype.

VON Coalition Europe has stated that it will work to educate, inform, and promote responsible government policies that enable innovation and the many benefits that Internet voice innovations can deliver.

In November, the European Commission proposed regulatory changes that would require VoIP providers to enable calls to emergency services. The Office of Communications, the telecommunications regulator in the UK, has now mandated that such access must be made available by September 2008.

Leading VoIP providers, including Skype, disagree with such proposals, arguing that VoIP is a complement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional telephony services.

In a statement issued by Stephen Collins, director of global governmental and regulatory affairs at Skype, the company says that Internet-enabled communications are an entirely new genre of communications products, services, and applications and a new frontier in communications for individuals and businesses alike.

In the opinion of Skype, in order to unleash their vast benefits, policymakers need to embrace forward-thinking policy approaches.

Stephen Collins said: "If we automatically subject this new technology to legacy telephone regulation, consumers, and business users could miss out on the new services, increased choices, better prices, and improved features that VoIP, for example, can deliver.

In a statement made at its launch, the coalition claimed that the premature application of emergency call rules to Web sites, click-to-dial services, one-way public switched telephone-network voice services, and other VoIP services that are not a replacement for traditional home or business phone services could actually harm public safety, stifle innovations critical to people with disabilities, stall competition, and limit access to innovative and evolving communication options where there is no expectation of placing a 112 call.