International Journal of Communications Law and Policy

Workshop "Internet Telephony" at Marburg (Germany), June 5 to 6, 1998

 

Report on the Workshop “Internet Telephony” of the Research Centre for European and German Telecommunications
by Christian Koenig, Sascha Loetz & Ernst Röder

 

Internet Telephony - aka web phoning or Voice over Internet (VoI) - is becoming increasingly popular due to the favourable rates available, compared with public carriers' offerings. The technical development of VoI - which also uses alternative network infrastructures such as TV cables or electricity lines - has already overtaken the present legal framework. On 5-6 June 1998, a student workshop took place at the Philipps University of Marburg. This workshop covered legal questions relating to Internet Telephony, taking into account converging networks and services. Well-known experts from various areas of the legal profession attended the meeting.

The German regulatory approach was first compared to that of the USA. In the US Telecommunications Act of 1934 (amended in 1996), at least rudimentary consideration of the characteristics of the Internets can be found. Therefore, the American legal approach proves more fitting to the medium concerned, especially since the national telecommunications policy also focuses on the Net  ¹ .

The relevant EC-directives permit the introduction of a license obligation for Internet telephony by individual member states  ² .

In contrast to the specifications of the EC Directive, the German Telecommunications Act (Telekommunikationsgesetz -TKG) links the obligation to obtain a license to the prerequisite of a "functional ownership" of the provider over the whole of the transmission network (§ 3 NR. 2 TKG). This is a somewhat narrower approach. Thus, the operation of the whole of a telecommunications network is crucial for the license obligation (§ 6 para.2 NR. 2 TKG). However, it appears useful to interpret the term "functional ownership" specifically with the Internet in mind. In this way, a license obligation can also be construed for VoI  ³ .

Internet telephony providers can benefit from the German rules on interconnection for telecommunications providers  ⁴ .

The rules on customer protection for conventional voice telephony, apply equally to Internet Telephony. The workshop also discussed the extent to which the conventional voice telephony universal service rules (§ 17 TKG) are to be applied to Internet Telephony.

In both German and European laws on power networks, the use of power lines for data communication has not been taken into account. Although the rights to use other people's networks is equally debatable in the realm of communications, as in the realm of power supply, the legal statutes on the provision of energy contain no rules on data transfer over powerlines. Competition law rules on dealing with the competitive aspects of data communication via powerlines appears necessary.

The TKG and the Act on Teleservices (Teledienstegesetz-TDG) apply equally to Internet Telephony. The ISO/OSI reference model shows a way to distinguish the areas in which the TKG and in which the TDG are applicable by resolving the conflict of norms via the layering of the technical protocols  ⁵ .

The problematic lack of clarity in the division of powers between several supervisory bodies - the National Regulatory Authority, the Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission - as well as the question of the free use of communal ground for telecommunications lines could not be settled in the discussion. However, a solution seems to be feasible on the basis of present telecommunications law.

Internet Telephony is a prime example for new services in converging networks. As such, it appears difficult to place it in a German legal landscape which is frequently late in reacting to technical developments. For the future, a uniform set of rules for circuit-independent, packet-switched services would be desirable in Germany.

Endnotes

Note 1:	For a work paper in English cf. Internet telephony in German and U.S. telecommunications law, for the full paper in German cf. http://www.jura.unimarburg.de/fs/tkrecht/dokumente/ss98/TKGTCA.HTM Die Regelungen zur Internet-Telefonie im deutschen Telekommunkationsgesetz und im Telecommunications Act der USA, eine Rechtsvergleichung Back.
Note 2:	For a work paper in English cf. How European law determines the licensing proceedings of German telecommunication law in view of Internet telephony , for the full paper in German cf. http://www.jura.uni-marburg.de/fs/tkrecht/dokumente/ss98/EUDETER.HTM Die europarechtliche Determinierung der Lizenzierungsverfahren nach dem TKG in Hinblick auf die Internet-Telefonie  Back.
Note 3:	For a paper in German on the German legal situation concerning the license obligation for VoI:cf. http://www.jura.uni-marburg.de/fs/tkrecht/dokumente/ss98/LIZTEL.HTM Bestehteine Lizenzpflicht im TKG fuer die Internet-Telefonie ueber Telefonleitungen?  Back.
Note 4:	For a work paper in English cf. Access to the network and obligations to permit interconnection in the case of Internet telephony in Germany, for the full paper in German cf. http://www.jura.uni-marburg.de/fs/tkrecht/dokumente/ss98/NETZZ.HTM Netzzugangsvoraussetzungen und Zusammenschaltungsverpflichtungen für die Internet-Telefonie  Back.
Note 5:	For the full paper in German cf. http://www.jura.unisb.de/jurpc/aufsatz/19980093.htm Internet-Telefonie zwischen TKG, IuKDG und Mediendienste-Staatsvertrag - Ein Modell zur Einordnung individualkommunikativer Dienste in das deutsche Multimediarecht (via JurPC Juni 1998)  Back.