Enabling Factors for IN Service Provider Access

The need to offer IN services across network boundaries is expected to come as a result of the ongoing deregulation, globalisation of telecom markets and the increased mobility of users. This will lead to a pressure for a clearer separation between IN service providers and network operators allowing third party service providers open access to public networks. Some operators may want to resist this development on the grounds of avoiding competition, but we claim that maintaining this view is counterproductive in a larger perspective, and that all parties will benefit from open service provider access to public networks. This paper points out that legislation and standardisation are essential factors for making public networks open for third party IN service providers, and proposes to use the TCP/IP protocol stack for the IN service provider interface.