1. FOV Round Table Agenda for Action
ITU Workshop
15-16 January 2007

2. Summarizing the two days
Consensus
Confusion
Contention

3. Consensus
Voice is on the move: from fixed to mobile, from PSTN to IP, but…
Voice delivered by circuit switched fixed networks will disappear.
Voice is vital and demanded by users.
Voice is the core of telecoms revenue (about 80%)
Voice fixed lines and ARPU are falling, just opposite for mobile.
Voice trends vary widely by country (viz. U.S.)
Voice pricing is moving toward flat rate and bundles
Voice can be enhanced by combining with data (e.g., online social networking services, or telemedicine)

4. Consensus (cont’d) The incremental cost of voice is nil
Price discrimination needed as a revenue source
Product differentiation (e.g., branding and marketing) can be used to sell costless services
Mobile and SMS termination and international roaming pricing are exorbitant

5. Confusion
How to structure interconnection pricing of asymmetric networks, VoIP services.
Imbalance between rich and poor users, and rich and poor countries.
Impact of vertical separation on fixed voice delivery.

6. Contention
Traditional fixed (and possibly mobile) service providers are doomed.
Unbundling incumbent fixed networks is antithetical to investment necessary to maintain the voice network, and to innovate
Voice access market is workably competitive vs. market power is inevitable and regulation is prescribed