The Voice On the Net Coalition (VON), which includes Microsoft, Skype, BT and Intel among its membership list, has called on the Europe Union (EU) to take action against Mobile Broadband operators that deliberately block Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services from being used on their cellular/3G networks.

Regular readers will already know that many UK Mobile Broadband operators, such as Vodafone (see our 'How to use Mobile Broadband' article), already prevent VoIP services such as Skype from being used on their network. This stems from the understandable fear that it could take revenue away from standard voice calls.


VON hopes its appeal will encourage the EU to draft new policies that would force mobile operators into allowing the use of VoIP services on smartphones and Mobile Broadband connections. It's something the group has been trying to do for awhile, albeit without much success.

Mobile Broadband services can block other essential online tools too, such as Instant Messaging (IM) clients like MSN. Hopefully Lord Carter is taking issues like this into account when drafting his final Digital Britain report and the new universal broadband obligation (USO), of which mobile operators could play a big part.