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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (55884)	11/6/2002 2:53:21 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

Meanwhile, back in Panama. From Reason. . Zero Discipline To see what happens when entrenched interests run up against new technology -- not to mention a possible preview of what will happen to American telecom in the near future -- look at Panama. Like many countries around the world, Panama uses long distance phone traffic as a cash cow. Not only that, but over the years many international cable and switching facilities have set up shop in that strategic locale. In sum, telecom is quite the big business in Panama. So when the Internet starts sucking traffic off the old circuit-switched phone network, it gets noticed. Voice-over-Internet protocol services offered by Panamanian Internet providers dodged all the hefty fees and taxes of the old phone system, and as a result were much cheaper. The government responded exactly as you might expect: They effectively banned such services in and out of the country. A decree issued last month ordered that all ISPs block the ports typically used for voice-over-Internet traffic. Local ISPs are upset, but it is unclear what they can do about it other than agree to pay off someone, either under or over the table. A heavily taxed, inefficient circuit-switched system cannot coexist with a tax-free, modern packet-switched system. Sooner or later, the U.S. will face this reality, too.