The battle lines have been drawn between mobile operators and VoIP service providers with regard to MVoIP. Currently, T-Mobile is blocking Truphone, according to Om Malik.

While mobile operators cannot see their revenues being affected by the MVoIP players through their cheap VoIP services, they shouldn’t forget that VoIP calls could still be billed at data rates when users are outside of WiFi areas.

James Tagg, CEO of Truphone explains,

This affects every new entrant into mobile telecommunications because the only company that can facilitate interconnection with T-Mobile is T-Mobile. It amounts to T-Mobile being able to veto a new entrant into the market. This would put telephony back 100 years, to a time when interconnections were not assured.

According to Triston McIntyre of Mac Blorge.com, users will have to purchase 2 year data plans before being able to access the cool stuff.

Triston has talked with a few AT&T Wireless sotre managers who have all told him that distribution materials are now arriving at stores, which include information about the required data plans.

In fact, the iPhone will come with a unique contract that doesn’t exist for any other phone AT&T sells.

says Triston of his conversation with one store manager.

Triston continues,

Though Steve Jobs clearly stated the the connectivity dependence of the iPhone will focus on WiFi and Blu-tooth, visual voicemail, Google Maps, or any of the other main features will be available only through a contractual AT&T data plan,

Though this might not sound bad, prices on iPhone plans have yet to be released; I, for one, am constantly immersed in the world of WiFi, nearly everywhere I go…a data plan (for the actual data transfer capabilities) would be a complete waste of money. don’t want to be locked into a 2 year data package when I use WiFi constantly…but apparently it isn’t an option.

Reportedly, Nortel and IBM are joining forces to launch an integrated suite of multimedia and VoIP applications that will run on IBM’s System i server. This is scheduled to happen in October.

The vice president and general manager of the Nortel/IBM alliance in Toronto, Lori McLean, told Paula Musich, an eWeek writer, that the deal stands to offer telerouting, messaging, unified communications and collaboration tools.

IBM Nortel partners will sell these services as well as advise System i channel partners training for System i’s predominantly small to medium size businesses.

A keynote address by Fusion Telecommunications CEO, Matthew Rosen, is scheduled for the VoIP World Middle East conference in Dubai, UAE on Monday, June 18.

This VoIP World conference marks the first major event in tht area that will highlight VoIP business strategies. Expected attendees will include many VoIP senior executives, ISPs, mobile operators, government officials and regulators, as well as equipment manufacturers from around the world.

From Fusion,

Mr. Rosen’s keynote address will focus on VoIP’s advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of each of its relevant stakeholders. It will also cover the challenges faced by the incumbent service providers in the region, as well as the many opportunities available to forward-thinking, quick-acting companies seeking to capitalize on the potential of this new technology. The session will also review VoIP’s market demand and revenue potential, the current state of affairs with regards to VoIP in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and ‘Strategies for Success’ that can be embraced by companies seeking to aggressively compete in the world of ‘Next Generation Networks.’

Skype recently introduced Skype Pro. Now using Skype To Go will save you even mroe money when making international calls. With a Skype To Go phone number making international calls from your cell phone can be nearly as affordable as local calls.

As Stefan Oberg, VP & GM Telecoms at Skype says,

Millions of Skypers around the world already make cheap international calls from their computers. With Skype To Go, you don’t have to think twice about the cost of making an international call from your mobile phone. If you have a friend living abroad, you can now talk to him or her anytime and anywhere you want.

Simply download Skype to your computer and sign up for Skype Pro to get your Skype To Go number for free. To activate the number just choose someone you want to call who lives abroad and enter their international number. Skype To Go will then give you a local number to use instead of the international number.

The popular VoIP software, Gizmo Project, has recently been updated to include a number of new features. Now the software supports the Nokia N95 and is available for beta users.

Gizmo Project software is also supporting MSN Messenger buddies and AOL Instant Messenger. This means users can make free voice calls and chats to these IM users.

The Gizmo Project also has plans to provide similar services for Google Talk, iChat and Yahoo! Messenger.

The FCC says that it, along with the FBI, are ready and willing to work with operators that find third-party solutions to be too expensive. What this help consists of generally, is helping operators to find services that will work with their level of expected surveillance and budget. For example, many rural carriers haven’t had wiretap requests for decades.

The government’s announcement can be summed up to “just because CALEA compliance is too expensive doesn’t mean you can’t make an effort”. While there are not too many specifics as laid out by govermental agencies, the FBI’s www.askcalea.com. site has quite a bit of information.

One way of dealing with CALEA compliance is to outsource the entire job of bringing your network up to par. Companies like VeriSign and NeuStar do just this kind of work.

What happens is they’ll put equipment in your network that can isolate the call or data traffic that you need to capture. All the monitoring is done remotely. These companies are also able to make sure that relevant calls get forwarded to the related law enforcement or government agencies. All the taps that are provided are the minimum that is required by law, meaning they won’t violate anyone’s rights.

Too Expensive?

If third-party solutions are too expensive, you can find part time help. For example, NeuStar has a type of timeshare agreement where you are sent the necessary software. When a surveillance order comes in you are shipped the server needed to capture the relevant information, then you send it back.

There’s also Intercept On Demand, which functions like the above service, with the exception that you buy the server, but only turn on surveillance when a legal order comes in. See NeuStar for Intercept On Demand services.

It can be a nuisance -to say the least- trying to comply with CALEA. Why not let someone who knows all the ins and outs take care of it for you?

Before the CLAEA compliance deadline many people were waiting for legal interception before deciding to make a move toward compliance, as the possibility of fines seemed remote. Now that the notice has gone out: comply or suffer the consequences, it could mean big trouble for those that choose not to comply.

Help From Vendors

You can choose products from vendors like ETI Connect, Aqsacom, SS8, Solera or Verint. These vendors have the software and hardware necessary to single out the cals or data you might need to suuply to law enforcement agencies.

Naturally, you’ll still want help figuring out how to respond to court orders, subpoenas and the like, but finding the software, hardware and VoIP service that is able to comply with CALEA is certainly a good place to start.

The German telephone company, Deutsche Telekom, announced today that they are investing in JAJAH. Though they have yet to disclose the specifics, they have participated in the recent $20 million funding round with Intel.

JAJAH functions quite differently from its competitors like Skype and Vonage. JAJAH users still must hang onto their existing land line, though the service does allow users to make free or cheap calls using the internet.

As Forbes reported today, JAJAH certainly has its work cut out. With some 2 millions users, they’re still a far cry from the 200 million users of Skype, and the market is becoming increasingly crowded.

Should be interesting.