I’ve posted before on how the Internet knows no borders, and how VoIP will be the catalyst for branded, consumer telephony and data offerings that really propel cross border, read global, brand efforts for the telcos.
James Enck in his Eurotelcoblog comments on what is about to happen in Europe. While right now this is already happening in the wireless world in many ways (white label carriers like Transatel, MVNO’s like Virgin, etc.) the voice world was largely run by PTT’s that were simply an extension of the government.
With the concept of deregulation hitting all the European countries one by one, and with data networks being the first barrier to break (you should see all the ads for cable tv around France on billboards) one can only imagine how companies like PCCW, SingTel and maybe even AT&T will all be playing here sometime in the future.
IP has no barrier and once you’re connected, your phone number and location become irrelevent. Take it from me. I’m sitting in a hotel in Paris, making phone calls using my San Diego numbers over IP. This is only the start.