[VoiceOps] Future of the Traditional PSTN vs VOIP and VoLTE

[Alex Balashov]

It seems to me that even now, the central preoccupation of any VoIP ITSP 
is connection to the PSTN, and that the ILEC tandem is still the anchor 
of that supply chain.

Not a year has gone by since ~2000 or so that some grandiose, 
cosmological reduced/free pure-IP peering/clearinghouse proposal hasn't 
appeared, but all of these are hollow when the PSTN is still the common 
denominator.

Moreover, there are powerful inertial forces that aim to incentivise the 
continuation of the incumbent transit model - measured usage over SS7 - 
for as long as possible. There is a fairly large number of private 
interconnects that are technologically IP, of course, but they operate 
in a conceptually similar way. The next-generation walled gardens 
cropping up around VoLTE and mobile are conceptually similar, too; IMS 
is just a different kind of transport for the same old thing.

So, the right question to ask isn't: "Is the PSTN dead yet?" It's more 
like, "Are you on PSTN 2.0 yet"? :-)

-- Alex

-- 
Alex Balashov | Principal | Evariste Systems LLC
303 Perimeter Center North, Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30346
United States

Tel: +1-800-250-5920 (toll-free) / +1-678-954-0671 (direct)
Web: http://www.evaristesys.com/, http://www.csrpswitch.com/