Cyberbaguioboy on VoIP

Cyberbaguioboy weighs in on the VoIP debate after talking to an unnamed telco executive who asks:

[D]o we have the necessary basic infrastructure like telephone lines and Internet access points to support VoIP services that will benefit the general consumers?

The answer he says, is “No” because:

we don’t even have a widespread deployment of Internet in the country, save for the telephone lines.

I must say the argument is seriously flawed and perhaps betrays the person’s ignorance about VoIP technology.  VoIP can be deployed in this country despite the problems he identifies.  In fact, PLDT already offers international VoIP calls at 18 US cents per minute.  But what the VoIP industry needs is a regulatory regime that will permit them to even begin offering services.  On top of that, the VoIP providers will need some physical interconnection with the local exchanges so they can switch Internet-relayed calls to your ordinary phone set and vice-versa. This is what the NTC regulations are all about.

Still, I have to agree with the executive’s conclusion that the bottom line issue here isn’t VoIP, it’s competition: 

The NTC or Congress should instead focus on making the telecommunications industry, which includes the information and communications technology sector, more competitive and open to changes. It should promote less regulation and break monopolies to pave the way for a free market that is essentially dictated upon by consumers.

It seems to me that a market-driven fully-competitive telecoms sector is an ideal goal but after having observed this industry for some time now, I’m convinced it won’t happen in my lifetime.  But then again, weirder things have come to pass.