Europe worried about VoIP regulation

Despite recent comments from Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom that there is no need to regulate voice over IP, new research shows regulation in this area is a concern in Europe.

Twenty per cent of European telecoms executives said in a recent survey that government regulation is the biggest threat to VoIP, while at the same time 84 per cent believe the technology is ready for widespread deployment.

Europeans appear to have different concerns than their US counterparts, however. When the same poll was carried out with US telecoms executives, they said quality issues were a greater obstacle to VoIP than regulation.

Earlier this week, the US Federal Communications Commission banned states from being able to impose regulations on internet telephony companies, a further step in the commission's policy to keep the market free from restrictions.

UK communications watchdog Ofcom, which has just begun laying out guidelines for deploying VoIP services, has said it plans to taken a relatively hands-off approach to the market.

The survey, which consisted of 560 interviews, was conducted by networking technology company Spirent Communications, the International Engineering Consortium and Total Telecom magazine.