Ofcom today published its approach to new voice services, including Voice over Broadband (VoB) phone services which deliver calls over the internet rather than via traditional telephone networks.

Ofcom believes that the emergence of these services will offer important benefits to consumers. Additionally, the comparatively low cost of the technology required means that the barriers to entry for new companies are lower than those in traditional switched-circuit telephony.

Ofcom believes that those advantages, coupled with increasing competition in the wholesale broadband market, are likely to mean that consumers will benefit from the choice of a wide range of providers.

Ofcom claim that their proposals minimise regulatory burdens to the development of this new technology.

Regulation is unable to deliver innovation but it can quickly kill it. So it’s worth VoIP aficionados giving the proposals a look over to assess any potential damage.

Consultation closes November 15 2004.