It can bring us together in ways that never existed before. It has the power to promote the exchange of ideas. Given the Internet's potential to drive economic growth, foster information-exchange, benefit cultures, and spread democracy, we must implement sound decisions and strategies to achieve its promise. IP telephony embodies one way that the Internet makes possible the impossible through technological ingenuity. Not only does IP telephony bring the immediate benefit of expanded access to telephony, it offers users new services and expanded functions at lower prices.
Users can communicate and conduct business more quickly and efficiently.
Voice is increasingly just one of a suite of applications deployed over the IP platform. Developing countries can benefit from the early introduction of Internet packet-switched technology and the variety of Internet services that this technology offers. For these reasons, the FCC encourages governments to remain open to the growth of IP telephony. But all of the benefits of IP telephony have not yet pushed themselves up through the soil, and IP telephony cannot be expected to change the landscape overnight. We must resist the temptation to label this new fruit of our technological harvest one thing or another based on existing regulatory frameworks.