According to local news source, Taiwanese Ministry of Transportation and Communication has decided to allocate 070 pre-fix for future VoIP services. The official announcement is set to be released early next week.
The number will look like "070-BCDE-FGHI", 11 digits numbering format. BCDE would be carrier identifier, FGHI would be user identifier. The minimum allocation is 10,000 numbers (to carriers).
Service providers with a Type II (service-based) license and with minimum capital of 500 million NTD are now eligible to apply for a VoIP operation "permit", which is to be reviewed every 3 years.
There are over 2000 Type II operators in Taiwan and 80+ of them provide VoIP services.
The incumbent teleco CHT said that they have been ready for the VoIP service. Others like Seednet, TFN, TTN, APOL have already promoted their VoIP services as early as in 2004, in their own private network with PSTN outbound service. Some have pre-assigned users with 070 numbers as well.
Skype has been popular in Taiwan and has 2 Million plus users signed up. However the local LEA (Law Enforcement Agency) has concern for skype used in criminal actions. VoIP numbering became something in the air for a while. On September this year a VoIP wiretapping evaluation report was submitted by TWNIC and IPOX. 070 for VoIP once again became possible.
It is known that Skype's partner in Taiwan, PCHome, has just passed the minimum capital requirement. Some said that 070 is a "skype special clause".
This good news came late, given neighborhood countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong have already assign e.164 number to VoIP services in 2003~2004. What makes Taiwan different is that Taiwanese VoIP / WiFi OEM companies have shown great interests in involving VoIP services in Taiwan / China. It means local carriers are not just competing with each other, but with their suppliers, too.
More news to come next week.