MobileMonday Global

^{VON Europe again in Stockholm} Pulver: Operators don't have a chance

Well known IP guru Jeff Pulver says that traditional phone operators don’t have chance against voice over IP or VoIP technology. Pulver claims that the increasing attacks against VoIP companies show that the operators know this too.

Pulver, who was interviewed by Computer Sweden late April, is coming to Stockholm in June. He is leading his VON Europe Spring 2007 conference on IP technology and business with about 150 speakers from the likes of Nokia, Ericsson, TeliaSonera, BT Group and even Verizon Business.

In the Computer Sweden story Pulver says that the IP technology has a great power to shake the carriers: the fixed telephony is bygone and cell phones are following next.

Pulver points out that British mobile operators are banning IP-supporting N95. He also sees patent infringement suit brought by Verizon as a way to defend a weak business model.

IP technology is also starting to get so mature that it is now a real threat, Pulver says.

There are new wi-fi networks everywhere, like in the London financial district, and so the British mobile network operators' Nokia N95 boycott is not a mere coincidence. Jeff says that, however, it's not possible that the mobile operators can pressure and halt the cell phone manufacturers from following the IP development: if not Nokia, then someone else.

Pulver also anticipates a sudden end to the lucrative roaming-fee flows to operators. It is not EU cutting the rates but during last months even cable operators have been interested in offering mobility to their clients via IP SW phones, and this makes international calling cheap to end-users.

Pulver has gotten a lot of publicity during the recent Verizon Vonage case where Verizon won a patent infringement case. Verizon won a jury trial and the judge tried to stop Vonage recruiting new clients and ordered the IP telephony company to pay 5.5 percent licensing fee for every customer to Verizon.

Vonage manage to get a permanent injunction against the order from the Supreme Court.

Pulver, who is a co-founder of Vonage, says that the patent is too generic and so it does not make sense. The patent was filed 1997 and it deals with translation of IP-addresses to phone numbers so that calls from Internet can be forwarded to regular phone networks. There is also documentary proof that the idea has been discussed in public already years earlier.

Vonage and Verizon will present June 25 their oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Pulver says that the patent is the base for the litigation, and if it falls, falls also the case. And if Verizon succeeds, well, Vonage has the advantage of IP, mobility, and it can always move abroad.

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