Abstract
VoIP is a technology that has received much attention over the past few years. Speculations are rampant that it will be “the technology” for telecommunications of the future, as broadband gains mass market penetration in every nation. It holds the promise of ubiquity and eliminates the need for a separate infrastructure for telecommunications. In this chapter, we have undertaken a cross country analysis of two economies, Germany and India, at varied levels of broadband voice over internet protocol (VoIP) diffusion, to examine the future potential of this technology in the respective nations and their telecommunications industries. Our brief analysis revealed some valuable insights regarding the impact of VoIP in both economies which may prove to be useful for other economies and telecommunication industries.
Key Terms in this Chapter
SIP: Refers to sessions initiation protocol. It is the proposed standard for initiating, modifying, and terminating an interactive user session that involves multimedia elements such as video, voice, instant messaging, online games, and virtual reality. It is an application-layer control protocol, a signaling protocol for Internet telephony. It can establish sessions for features such as audio/videoconferencing, interactive gaming, and call forwarding to be deployed over IP networks.
VDSL: Refers to very high speed digital subscriber lines. It is the latest development in DSL, which enables high speed Internet access of up to symmetrical 100 Mbps (both up and downstream) and is specified to support applications such as multichannel high definition TV (HDTV), video on demand, videoconferencing, and VoIP, all using the existing ubiquitous copper telephone line infrastructure.
WiMAX: Refers to world interoperability for microwave access. It is a technology built to deliver high throughput broadband wireless services at a low cost, to enable mass market adoption. There are two main applications, fixed and mobile. Fixed WiMAX is a point-to-multipoint facility that enables broadband access to homes and businesses. Mobile WiMAX offers full mobility of mobile networks at true broadband speeds.
POTS: Refers to plain old telephony systems or traditional analogue based public telecommunication services.
Broadband: Refers to advanced communications systems capable of providing high-speed transmission of services such as data, voice, and video over the Internet and other networks. Transmission is enabled by a wide range of technologies, including digital subscriber line (DSL), fiber optic cable, wireless, and satellite.
H3.23: Refers to the oldest of signaling protocols, recommended by the International Telecommunications Union. It was designed to provide teleconferencing with voice, video, and data capacities on packet switching networks.
VOIP: Refers to voice over Internet protocol. It is the family of technologies that allow IP networks to be used for voice applications, such as telephony, voice instant messaging, teleconferencing, and so forth.
Skype: Refers to a proprietary VoIP organization which has created the most popular VoIP instant messaging tool, known as SKYPE, using P2P technologies.
3G/UMTS: Refers to third generation/Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems which are standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) under 3GPP (third generation partnership project) along with other regional standards organizations. 3GPP is the standardization structure producing UMTS specifications and global systems for mobile communications (GSM).
PSTN: Refers to public switched telephone network, which is the conventional telephone service that exists today.