Free internet phone calls to be available by end of year

Consumers should be able to make and receive free telephone calls by the end of the year using a new technology that is revolutionising the telecoms industry.

New telephone numbers prefaced by a code 076 will be made available to firms offering the new service. But consumers will have the option of keeping their existing numbers, the communications regulator said yesterday.

The technology, which is known as voice over internet protocol (VOIP), uses the internet to carry calls rather than existing phone networks, which have been built over the past century.

By bypassing the existing fixed line phone networks, consumers can make and receive as many calls as they like free if the person they are calling also has the same type of VOIP system.

If the person that a consumer wants to call doesn't have the same VOIP system in place, a small fee will be charged to place a call. But this will be significantly less than a typical charge.

The only restraint on the consumer is that they must have a broadband connection to enable them to hook up to the internet from their homes and a PC with a microphone or special headset.

Phone calls will also be much more difficult to monitor as traditional wire tapping technology used by the Garda will not work with the new internet service.

The emergence of VOIP services in Ireland will pose a major threat to existing operators, but particularly Eircom which owns at least 80 per cent of the residential and business market. Esat BT and Eircom are expected to launch their VOIP services sometime next year for consumers.

Until now several companies have offered VOIP services to Irish consumers but they have been unable to allocate numbers to their customers to enable people to receive phone calls.

The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) said yesterday its decision to establish new number ranges to carry internet calls should lower telephone charges and provide a range of enhanced video conferencing services to consumers.

Mr David Gunning, director of market framework at ComReg, said VOIP was changing almost 100 years of traditional telecoms.

He said Ireland was one of the first countries in Europe to make numbers available for use by VOIP operators. But in the US and Japan uptake of VOIP services was very strong, he added.

ComReg said it had already met with several firms that want to offer their VOIP services in Ireland such as VOIP Ireland and Skype.

At a briefing with journalists yesterday, ComReg said it expected to begin issuing general authorisations to firms seeking to offer the new service shortly.

Firms should then be in a position to begin offering a service to consumers by the end of the year.