Operators were never going to get on well with the idea of VoIP. After all, most telecoms companies have made the majority of their fortunes on voice calls. Services like Skype and GTalk like to give that away for free. But while the tension has been global, the fight between operators and VoIP has been most obvious in Germany. And after many months of public confrontations, Telefónica O2 Germany has become the first German operator to welcome VoIP with open arms.
A brief history of the conflict
There have been numerous minor skirmishes, but the most important dates in the war are as follows:
April 1st, 2009 – Skype announces it’s iPhone app at CTIA
April 3rd, 2009 – Angered by Deutsche Telekoms almost immediate decision to block access to the Skype iPhone app for its T-Mobile Germany subscribers, a coalition of VoIP providers called Voice on the Net (VON) lobbies the EU to intercede.
May 13th, 2009 – Under pressure, both Vodafone Germany and T-Mobile Deutschland announce they are looking into permitting VoIP services to run on their networks – but only under special tarrifs
June 3rd, 2009 – Deutsche Telekom announces it will allow T-Mobile subscribers to access VoIP services, but only if they purchase an additional data plan at 10 euro a month.
August 17th, 2009 – O2 Germany announces it will all of it’s users to access VoIP services without any extra charges or catches.
What are the details on the O2 offer?
Any Telefónica O2 Germany with a mobile Internet package now have total access to VoIP services at no extra charge. The operator is pushing two data plans in particluar: Internet-Pack-M and Internet-Pack-L. Pack M gives the subscriber a data limit of 200 MB per month for 10 euro. The larger plan, Internet Pack L, increases this limit to 5 GB for 25 euro a month. Neither of these plans actually cuts you off when you hit your limit – they just reduce your connection speed.
From the release:
“We operate one of the most modern and most rapid mobile data networks in Europe and our customers are to experience it without limitations, no matter whether they surf, email, use instant messaging or make phone calls”, says Lutz Schüler, Managing Director Marketing & Sales, Telefónica O2 Germany. “By opening our mobile high-speed network for VoIP services, we set new standards in the area of the mobile internet.”
What we think?
The operators were never going to win out against VoIP, and other services like it. The public drive to use them is just too strong. As we predicted though, they have tried to squeeze every drop of profit out of them before giving in. O2 Germany will not be the last network to allow its users to make limitless calls, and make their money on the data charges. It really is just phase one in the transfer of all telephony services to IP, a process which will be complete with the launch of LTE.
