Telephony providers join ITSPA parade
New trade association aims to encourage innovation in VoIP
A new trade association to promote and self-regulate the voice over IP (VoIP) industry has received a cautious welcome from resellers and analysts.
Set up by 13 vendors and service providers including Mistral Internet and Call UK, The Internet Telephony Service Providers Association (ITSPA) plans to spur innovation in VoIP by encouraging competition and self-regulation.
ITSPA claimed that there are more than six million people worldwide making voice calls over their combined internet connections, primarily in Japan and the US. It also predicted that the UK market will grow.
Kim Thesiger, a representative of ITSPA, said in a statement: "Internet telephony providers now offer a serious alternative to the existing telephone companies.
"It ushers in cheaper calls and offers new products and services that were only available to the biggest corporations until now. We need to look at the levels of regulation and encouragement that this industry needs."
But analyst firm Quocirca warned that the lack of involvement by key industry players, including BT, Cisco and Nortel, could weaken the trade association's powers when it comes to lobbying UK government bodies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry, The Home Office and Ofcom.
Bob Tarzey, service director at Quocirca, said: "I doubt that this will have a measurable effect on the overall market.
"It's more a case of smaller companies ganging up to have some muscle against the bigger service providers such as BT."
But any initiative that improved the overall reputation of VoIP could only be a good thing for the reseller market, he added.
"The opportunities are there for the resellers. They just need to work with the vendors now to reap the benefits," said Tarzey.
Teferra Daniel, vice-president of business development at Aruba reseller React Technologies, welcomed the move and said that larger vendors are likely to join up.
"The timeliness is good, especially in the UK, as it's a fast-growing market. The consortium will be able to provide thought leadership and encourage growth in vertical markets," he said.
Daniel agreed with Quocirca that the association would give the smaller players more power to deal with larger vendors and service providers on industry issues.
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