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Singapore Dedicates VoIP Numbers |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Thursday, 16 June 2005 |
Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority has reportedly announced it will start offering a range of telephone numbers specifically dedicated to VoIP services.
The new policy will allow VoIP service providers in Singapore to give their subscribers a regular phone number just like the fixed-line and mobile telephone service providers.
Service providers are already interested and it is believed some will begin offering numbers within a couple of months.
While there is no clear indication yet how many numbers are likely to be required, officials say they have allocated a very large amount of numbers.
The IDA has set aside a block of eight-digit numbers beginning with the number 3 which will be sold to service providers in blocks of 10,000 at a cost of S$25,000.
With a large ethnically Chinese population, it is expected many operators will struggle to reserve “lucky numbers” such as those that contain the number 8. To resolve conflicts, the IDA plans to auction off the blocks containing those numbers to the highest bidder (eg 3888 888).
In contrast to the US FCC’s recent ruling that VoIP operators must offer emergency ‘911’ calling, the Singapore IDA is reportedly planing to save local operators from the trouble. However, they will be required to make this deficiency known to potential customers.
If they chose to offer a full service (including emergency dialing) the VoIP operators will be given access to the same block of numbers used for Singapore’s fixed line network. These 8 digit numbers begin with 6. Operators must also offer number portability.
Telco incumbent SingTel is warning customers not to buy services based on price, saying VoIP quality does not match fixed line telephony.
Executive vice-president of SingTel, Lim Chuan Poh told reporters, "We want our customers to understand that at the end of the day, it’s about value for money, not about cheapest price."
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