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Costa
Rica May Criminalize VoIP
The growing surge in
international VoIP calls has
caused the telecommunications
monopoly - Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) - to propose legislation
that could criminalize the use
of Internet telephone calls.
ICE said that it views VoIP as a
value-added telecom service and,
as such, it should be regulated.
The proposal would make Internet
telephoning a crime.
One Costa Rican official of an
agency seeking to promote the
Central American country's
software industry said last week
that ICE's proposal would be
"disastrous" to the country's
efforts to grow its software
development and outsourcing
businesses. The official, who
asked that his name not be used,
noted that Costa Rica has been
rapidly growing its outsourcing
business and low-cost telephone
service is crucial to the growth
of that business.
ICE is a telecommunications
monopoly. While some have
criticized it for stifling
competition, it has established
efficient telephone service
throughout the Costa Rica, which
is rapidly-emerging from third
world status. Market research
studies have noted that some 78
percent of software developers
in the Central American and
Caribbean region are located in
Costa Rica.
The ICE proposal was first
reported in Spanish language
newspaper "La Nacion"
which noted that some 20 percent
of the country's international
calls are made using VoIP
technology. The use of Skype
Technologies' peer-to-peer Web
calling is widespread and other
VoIP services including U.S.
VoIP pacesetter Vonage are also
used to make and receive calls
to and from the Central American
nation.
Claudio Bermudez, ICE deputy
director, was quoted by La
Nacion as follows: "VoIP,
which is characterized as a
telephone service, is a
(telecommunications) carrier and
substitute telephone service,
and as such uses the public
telecommunications
infrastructure."
The question of VoIP and whether
it should be regulated as a
telephone service or left
unregulated as a data service
has been hotly debated for
several months in the U.S. Most
governmental agencies and courts
have ruled that Internet phoning
is a data service that should
not be regulated.
Earlier this month, Vonage
complained to the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission that
its service had been blocked by
a high-speed ISP.
To date, there is no evidence
that the ICE has blocked any
VoIP service in Costa Rica.
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