Voice over Internet Protocol

ABOUT 60 million minutes of international calls are made to and from Bangladesh a day and more than 35 per cent of these calls are still being routed by some illegal operators through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). According to an estimate, the government during the last ten years has been deprived of Taka 90 billion (Taka Nine thousand crore) on account of lost revenues due to illegal use of VoIP technology circumventing the normal International Long Distance Telecommunications Services (ILDTS) from which the government could otherwise have earned revenues on those bypassed overseas calls.

A syndicate of PSTN operators, internet service providers and also mobile phone operators, who in most cases were backed by powerful elites, used their respective licensed channels to route the VoIP calls at the expense of the government; these operators may be termed telephone voice smugglers. A number of raids on illegal VoIP operations were earlier undertaken by the law enforcement agencies, a number of internet and mobile phone operators were punished by fines and the government-owned telephone organization BTTB had hugely lowered the charges of overseas calls with a view to discouraging such illegal business, but to no avail. Therefore, the government has obviously been compelled to take actions against such telephone voice smuggling by canceling licenses of five private land-phone companies who were found doing illegal VoIP business. But such sudden canceling of licenses of the land-phone companies has resulted in unexpected snaping of the telephone connectionsof innocent telephone subscribers and loss of jobs for hundreds of employees who used to work in those companies for no fault of their own.

However, it is heartening to learn from the Telecom Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju that after a bill named "Telecom Regulatory Act 2010" is passed in the next Budget Session of the parliament, VoIP technology will be made open for all so that any operator can handle international calls through VoIP in a legal and transparent manner and the government gets revenues, however little, from every single telephony use through VoIP. Wage-earners, especially those whose poor parents and family members live in rural areas, will be benefited by the cheaper means of VoIP calls they can use to talk to their families.

VoIP has become a popular medium of doing lucrative business as the technology offers international calls at charges much lower than those calls made through conventional international telephone lines though the quality of voice through VoIP is not as good as that through standard telephone lines. But things of telecommunication are fast changing. Those who own computers at both ends of communication are now using many modes like chatting through texting and interacting through video-conferencing. If you are in Dhaka and your friend in New York have downloaded in your computers the free software called "Skype" you can call each other for absolutely free for as long as you like. The government should therefore formulate their telecom policy based on what shape the teletechnology would take in the future.

Cellular telephony has grown dramatically, and cellular phones are nowadays used even in our country as equipment for many purposes including texting, paying bills, purchasing household goods, listening to FM radio programmes, playing recorded songs, taking digital photographs and what not. The technological advancement of cell phones will not stop here. Future innovation will bring this magnificent invention to greater heights, offering more functionality than ever. The recent introduction of internet service through high-powered wireless connectivity in cell phones will allow Bangladeshi people to watch from their mobile phones live feeds of the World Cup football tournaments to be held in South Africa.

The day perhaps is not far away, let me fancy please, when there will be no wired telephone and maybe all the future mobile phones based on satellite technology will be as cheap as an FM radio set for anybody to communicate with anybody on the Earth, on the Mars or on any other planet absolutely for free.

VoIP: Beauty and the beast

The delight of being able to hear the voices of our dear ones abroad is priceless, but the bills at the end of the day remind us that 'priceless' is an exaggerated word. Nothing comes free, and neither does maintenance of long distance ties. What if by some quirk of technology, we were able to speak long distance at greatly reduced costs? Today, with VoIP (voice over internet protocol), this can be a reality.

VoIP refers to a collection of transmission technologies, which make voice communications possible over internet. It is also known as internet telephony and helps the conversion of voice into a digital signal that can be sent over the Internet. These signals are then compressed and translated to IP (internet protocol) packets for transmission. They are converted to a regular telephone signal, if the user is calling on a normal phone. In other words, it facilitates the use of your personal computer to make telephone calls.
The use of this technology simply involves downloading and installation of a VoIP software like 'Skype' or 'Vonage', purchasing low-cost VoIP cards from the local market or online and using the number on the card for verification and then dialling the required telephone number from the PC.
The most important benefit of VoIP is of course, reduced cost. Generally, it saves around 30 percent to 50 percent of traditional phone bills, and sometimes even more. Because VoIP is all done over the internet, it cuts out the phone lines and expensive networks that other phones require. By bypassing cellphone towers and telephone lines, and using cheap internet access, you eliminate the middleman and the distance in between you and the person you are talking to.
The beauty of cheap VoIP is that it can be used anywhere and as long as you have an internet connection. Since it involves the employment of the internet, the user is able to integrate computer applications like email, e-fax and web conferencing, with the telephone. It gives the provision of using the phone, while accessing all other programs, and surfing the Internet at the same time. It is also possible for the users to take the VoIP adapters anywhere, and use their number at any place where internet is available. This feature is particularly helpful for those with active lifestyle and whose jobs require a lot of travel. Not to mention, all such calls made this way are also relatively cheaper.
However, all good things in life run the risk of misuse. There are growing concerns on the possibility that unwanted VoIP advertising messages -- often referred to as Spam over internet telephony, or SPIT -- will overwhelm IP voice systems, much as email spam has overwhelmed email messaging systems. VoIP is also susceptible to worms, viruses and hacking. But the worst case of misuse of VoIP is in the execution of cyber crimes. Terror groups increasingly use this service in their planning stages since it is cheap and very difficult to track. Effective measures by security agencies to monitor and regulate (not block) VoIP calls could help in bringing more order to the VoIP regime and prevent potential misuse.
Some ISPs (internet service providers) and governments have taken it in their own hands to censor what their Internet subscribers can or cannot do online. Scared of the loss of revenue posed by VoIP, some incumbent telephone companies and governments have in the past blocked ports so that calls cannot connect with a user on their network. Certain telephone companies have even gone as far as to block Google Talk, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! IM because they have also offered voice as well as text chat.
However, in spite of all the restrictions, people have managed to find their way around by using applications that dodge the blockage. Technology is such a thing that whenever a path is closed, someone always eventually finds a crack to it. So all these drives for banning VoIP technology are actually pointless. These governments should rather find a more lucrative way to utilise this technology to enhance their business, and at the same time allow their citizens to reap the benefits of cheaper phone calls.

VoIP Call Termination Process is going to Change in BD

Bangladesh has suspended operations of three private phone operators

Bangladesh shuts three phone operators for illegal telephony ,in less than a week for allegedly running unlicenced phone services, a spokesman of the telecom regulatory body said on Friday.
The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission closed the offices of Ranks Telecom Ltd, or RanksTel, a private firm licensed in 2004 as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), as the government was convinced that the operator runs an illegal business using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), for which it is not licenced.
“We have shut down all activities of RanksTel since Friday morning after we found a huge quantity of VoIP equipment at the company’s office,” BTRC chairman Zia Ahmed said, adding that three employees had also been detained.
On Wednesday, authorities discovered evidence of illegal VoIP operations at the offices of WorldTel Bangladesh Ltd, which has been running PSTN operations since 2000. The phone operator was also switched off, the BRTC chairman said.
Five top officials of Dhaka Phone, another PSTN operator, were arrested Monday on a similar charge. The company’s operations were suspended.
There are nine private operators running PSTN services across Bangladesh beside the state-run Bangladesh Telecom Ltd, providing service to some 1.6 million subscribers.
RANKSTEL’S STATEMENT
RanksTel termed shutting down of its switch room totally illegal.
“The BTRC investigation team and law enforcers did not find any VoIP equipment, yet they sealed our switch room, which is only preventing the development of the local telecom industry,” said the RanksTel statement signed by Director Aman Ullah Chowdhury.
Shutting down RanksTel’s network will cause sufferings to its customers and destroy its image. “We want a neutral investigation into the matter and demand that the regulator opens the switch room immediately,” the statement said.
Operations of the telecom company at 22 call centres, UNDP, City Bank, American Express Bank, Standard Chartered Bank offices here also got closed.