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Click Here to see a
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which goes with this article, entitled:
The Internet Means Big Business
By James E. Powell
Hold the phone! That's what a trade association representing regional long-distance companies and other telecom providers feels about packages like VocalTec's Internet Phone and Quarterdeck's WebTalk, which allow users to communicate by voice over long distances (including internationally) with only an Internet service provider.
The group, America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA), was concerned enough to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission, asking the agency to better define the kinds of communication-such as voice-permitted over the Internet. It also asked the FCC to categorize software firms offering such products and services as interstate telecom carriers-which would bring them under the FCC's regulatory umbrella-and until that happens, formally prohibit them from selling communications software.
Not surprisingly, those companies are crying foul. The petition is squarely at odds with the omnibus telecommunications bill recently signed into law, according to Elon Ganor, chairman and CEO of VocalTec. While it takes action against "offensive" material, the law specifically states that its purpose "is to keep the Internet vibrant and unfettered by state or federal regulation," Ganor said. "Products like Internet Phone are not just concerned with the voice element or low cost, but how people communicate." Ganor believes future applications could include collaborative computing and videoconferencing.
Of course, the technology is advancing much too fast for legislation to keep up, even without petitions. For example, VocalTec has already arranged for CompuServe to offer the software. The company has also introduced the Internet Phone Tele-phony Gateway, which lets customers use a microphone, modem and the Internet to make a local, long-distance or overseas phone call and talk in real time; in effect, your PC becomes a normal phone.
In case you were wondering, neither AT&T nor MCI signed on
to the ACTA petition. One reason: Both companies have themselves
become Internet service providers.
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