[LINK] US FCC now planning "all-IP" phone transition

[Richard Chirgwin]

Kim Holburn wrote:
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/fcc-plans-for-death-of-circuit-switched-phone-networks.ars
>
>   
>> Telecom carriers increasingly run IP backbones and last-mile IP  
>> access to offer Internet service to home and business users. Cable  
>> and telcos like AT&T and Verizon have for years tried to move people  
>> in the direction of IP-delivered services, especially for phone  
>> service (when it comes to TV service, AT&T is the main IP-only  
>> player in the US), but huge sections of the country still rely on  
>> Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) using circuit-switched services.
>>     
>
> ....
>
>   
>> Given that voice services now make up only a fraction of the data  
>> traveling across the total US communications networks, it certainly  
>> makes little economic sense to continue supporting two separate  
>> systems But, as with anything that has grown up for a century,  
>> pulling the plug requires plenty of planning.
>>     
>
> The mind boggles.  Is anything forward looking like this being planned  
> in Oz?
>   
Certainly the Comms Alliance has been looking at questions of VoIP for 
some years now; not with an explicit "all VoIP network" remit, but if 
standardisation work is ready in advance, it certainly supports a 
transition.

http://www.commsalliance.com.au/Activities/voip

RC