Business News Holding

Tag: open-networks

  • Skype accused of hypocrisy by Gizmo

    Skype’s Christopher Libertelli recently questioned the major US wireless carriers’ commitment to open networks.


    Today voip.biz-news.com has the response from Gizmo Project’s CEO, Michael Robertson, who accuses Skype of hypocrisy for wanting others to open their networks while refusing to open its own.

    Robertson has written to Libertelli challenging Skype to enable other networks such as Gizmo5 to call Skype users in an official and supported capacity.

    “Mr Libertelli, I recently saw your letter to FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin demanding that wireless companies open their networks.

    While I concur this would be beneficial for consumers, Skype’s actions do not mirror their words to the commission which diminishes credibility for Skype to demand openness.

    I am CEO of Gizmo5, a standards based VOIP and IM network. We invite other networks to connect to our users and currently route calls to and from more than 500 networks big and small on the Internet. We cannot route calls to Skype users in spite of the fact that consumers would like to do this because Skype has a closed network.

    The wireless companies you chastise in your letter to commissioner Martin allow me to send and receive calls to the networks they operate but Skype does not.

    Skype operates the largest closed calling network on the planet.

    We have requested peering information from Skype in the past on multiple occasions and our requests have been ignored. Skype continues to deny Gizmo5 and others in the internet calling world the information and access to allow calls to flow to and from your network.

    It appears that when it is convenient for Skype’s business objectives Skype waves the flag of openness, at the same time conveniently ignoring competitors requests for openness.

    It is disingenuous for Skype to demand mobile operators open their networks so that Skype can infiltrate their systems with their proprietary, closed calling scheme which locks out all others.

    If Skype truly believes there should be open competition then they should start by enabling other networks such as Gizmo5 to call Skype users in an official and supported capacity.

    Until you remove the padlock from your own front door you would seem to have no right to demand that others adopt an open door strategy.

    I’m open to discuss and implement an open peering relationship which will demonstrates Skype true commitment to open networks and make your actions match your words. Contact me anytime at [email protected] .”

    Michael Robertson
    MP3 Tunes – Your Music Everywhere
    Gizmo5 – IM/VOIP/SMS from PC and phone

  • Skype Questions Carriers Commitment to "Open" Networks


    Christopher Libertelli, Skype’s senior director of government and regulatory affairs for North America, has written a strongly-worded letter complaining that the major US wireless carriers are all talk when it comes to "open" networks.

    Writing to the Federal Ccommunications Commission (FCC) chairman, Kevin Martin, he said that if the Commission wanted to live up to its stated goal of making open networks more accessible, it would affirm that this policy covered wireless networks.

    Libertelli said that last week at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Francisco, the major US carriers paid lip service to the idea of open networks, but strongly cautioned that too much choice would lead to chaos and damage the viability of their business model.

    "The attitude of the wireless carriers was perhaps best summed up in Sprint Nextel Corp,” he wrote.

    He quoted Sprint CEO Dan Hesse’s recent comment: ‘The big Internet can be daunting… There can be too much choice.’

    Libertelli continued: “This stands in stark contrast to the Commission’s wise policies designed to promote as much consumer choice as possible."

    He said Skype was mindful of the challenges wireless carriers faced in moving to an open network. But he also said it was not enough to simply talk about open networks.

    "Consumer choice, competition and free markets, not carriers acting to block competition, should win the day in wireless–now, not later," he said.

    "If the Commission believed that the transition to more open networks was going to proceed quickly, statements out of CTIA’s convention suggest just the opposite.”