Telecommunications service providers freely acknowledge that distance-related tariffs are not long for the telecommunications world, but Telecom Finland Ltd has stolen a march by actually embracing the Internet phone, a development that scares many traditional phone companies witless. The company yesterday unveiled a limited Internet phone service and has taken a license to distribute 30,000 copies of the Internet Phone software from Herzliya, Israel-based VocalTec Ltd, one of several competing pieces of software that enable personal computer users with a microphone and a sound board to stage phone calls to similarly-equipped remote users. Finland has a 622Mbps Internet backbone, which will improve potential performance, and is working on integrating the product more closely with the phone system. And Vocaltec added a $50 Internet Phone with Video enhancement to Internet Phone 4 to add videoconferencing over a standard modem.
