4 New Paradigms: Voice Over IP and IXPS

The ICT sector is developing rapidly. Technological advances are making new services, and new modes of service deliver, possible. In the future, the Internet will be the primary medium through which converging voice and data services will flow. As a result, market structure, business models, and commercial arrangements for interconnection are changing.

This section focuses on the implications of the Internet for interconnection, specifically on:

• Background to the Internet and its development,
• An overview of Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP),
• Opportunities for arbitrage, that are creating pressures for change to existing regulatory and commercial models,
• The implications of VoIP for regulators, and for interconnection,
• VoIP over wireless technologies,
• International benchmarking of charges for network access, and
• Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).