ACMA to crack down on VoIP services

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 16 April 2008 15:07

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Announcing the move, acting ACMA chairman, Chris Cheah, said: "ACMA's new approach to applying current regulation to VoIP aims to strike a balance between effectively applying regulation while continuing to enable innovation and providing greater clarity to industry around service provider obligations."

According to Cheah, the ACMA will adopt a three-strand approach to VoIP. First, it has been reviewing how existing regulation applies to the kinds of services that are now available and will "consider our priorities" Secondly, it will "engage with industry and consumers". Thirdly it will put in place a specific compliance program.

The ACMA has developed a VoIP engagement strategy, which "aims to provide information to assist an understanding of the regulatory framework and ACMA's approach" and "inform VoIP...providers on how the suite of regulations applies to them and to outline the types of VoIP services that are subject to regulation."

As a first step industry seminars are being arranged for Sydney (8 May) and Melbourne (date to be advised). Providers can register by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . ACMA says seminars may be held in other locations if there is sufficient interest.

It has also added a new section to its web site www.acma.gov.au/voip dedicated to provide "comprehensive information about ACMA's regulatory approach to VoIP".

The ACMA has given little detail so far of its compliance programme but says it has identified key compliance areas that it will focus on in 2008. These are: the provision of access to the emergency call service; ensuring that VoIP providers input current and accurate information into the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND); that they meet the requirement to become members of the
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) scheme and that those that use standard telephone numbers "abide by rules attached to the use of those numbers which support routing, charging and certain regulatory requirements."

The ACMA says it will use "the appropriate power or intervention necessary to achieve the desired result" consistent with its broader approach to compliance.