網路電話發展之法制研究

Abstract

網路電話服務近兩年來因技術的進步，在電信市場上受到眾多注目，同時也由於Skype軟體的盛行，讓「網路電話」成為語音通訊服務當中最熱門的話題，甚至預測以網際網路通訊協定傳遞語音封包的網路電話將會在不久之後大幅撼動長久以來以公眾交換電話網路為基礎的語音通訊世界。而我國的網路電話服務也在同時逐漸嶄露頭角，除了自國外引進的Skype之外，國內還有數十家企業紛紛投入網路電話服務的提供。由於網路電話所使用的技術能夠比公眾交換電話系統更有效率地使用頻寬資源，並可以節省消費者的通訊成本，產業界莫不希望能以比傳統電話低廉許多的費率及更多的加值服務吸引消費者接受並使用網路電話。 但在實際上我國網路電話服務在目前的推展過程中，仍然因為遭遇到許多法規限制上的問題，因而使得網路電話服務的發展並沒有預期中的順利及蓬勃。最主要的原因之一乃是由於我國網路電話業務尚無申請用戶號碼的權利，以致網路電話無法達到雙向通訊的需求，影響了大多數使用者的使用意願；為了促使開放核配電信號碼給網路電話經營者，主管機關與業者共商研擬了多項配套措施，但其中有關業者協助通訊監察的義務規定卻反又成為影響網路電話配號政策開放的重要因素之一。而即使網路電話配號問題得以解決，電信產業當中不同類電信事業間的網路互連所存在的爭議，限縮了網路電話服務可通訊的範圍，依然嚴重影響了網路電話服務的發展，而使得我國網路電話服務致今仍然未能在語音通訊市場上完全發揮其價值。 本文即針對上述影響我國網路電話服務發展的主要問題進行研究，釐清問題徵結所在與所制定之法規對網路電話產業可能產生之影響做討論，並從研究網路電話服務相關法規問題後的發現，延伸討論我國現行電信事業分類機制的不適之處，並初步提供另一種分類的思考邏輯，供未來修法的參考。

Due to the improvements of technologies, VoIP has been paid a lot of attention in the telecommunications industry during these two years. The popular software, Skype, also helps VoIP become the hit of voice communication services. Some even says that IP-based VoIP service will soon vibrate the old PSTN world. At the same time, dozens of enterprises in Taiwan also invest time and money in developing VoIP service. VoIP can much more effectively make use of the network bandwidths than PSTN and decrease consumers’ communication cost, therefore all the VoIP providers are trying to attract customers by low fee rate and various value-added services that VoIP can provide. But the popularization of VoIP service in Taiwan was not that successful, for there are many legal problems and regulations impede the development of VoIP services. One vital problem which makes VoIP service a cripple is the lack of VoIP numbers. VoIP without its own numbers is not able to make two-way communications to PSTN, which may end up with losing attractive to consumers. To solve this problem, the authorities discussed a lot with enterprises in this industry and drafted many measures and regulations to speed up the VoIP numbers assignment policy. But one of those measures, the duty of assist communications surveillance, becomes another obstruction on the way to VoIP numbers assignment. On the other hand, even though the numbers assignment problem has vanished, there are still controversial issues in the interconnections between two different types telecommunications enterprises. All VoIP services need wide-spread network interconnections to communicate with other VoIP services and PSTN telephone users. VoIP will still be crippled if they can’t make a big net surround other VoIP and PSTN, even with numbers. The thesis were focused on the topics above, trying to find the reasons of those problems and discuss about the likely impacts on those new regulations. Finally, VoIP inspired us to review the controversial classification logic applied to our telecommunications enterprises, and gave some preliminary suggestions for future modifications.