Two years ago, the CZ.NIC Association launched the operation of the ENUM system. This system allows for the transmission of regular telephone calls over the Internet ensuring that the caller does not have to pay minute charges for the effective calls.
The number of its users has been growing continuously, the ENUM domain name registry currently includes 4 834 domains, representing 664 399 potential phone numbers. The number of domains has increased by 55 percent as against last year. Thanks to these figures the Czech Republic ranks among countries with the highest number of users of ENUM.
“Although ENUM and Internet calling offer a number of advantages as compared with traditional telephony, IP telephony still remains the domain of technically skilled users or companies. However, the market situation and conditions have been gradually changing in favour of Internet calling, not only due to the fact that companies and households have been considering the best ways of saving their money, because the price represents only one of the many advantages of Internet calling. New mobile phones capable of calling over the Internet have been introduced on the market, fast Internet connection has been spreading, and users are no longer put off by biased information on IP telephony. All of these factors will cause a decisive change similar to the change introduced by the Internet in other fields,” said Pavel Tůma, Project Manager of ENUM Technology in the Czech Republic, and he adds: âIn the near future, a mark that should indicate whether a particular product or a service is fit for Internet calling, will be introduced based on international cooperation. This mark will make it easier for those who are interested to orientate themselves in the market offer and thus facilitate the switch-over to IP telephony.â
What does ENUM offer
ENUM allows for the use of advantages of Internet calling even when making regular calls, so that if the called number is available using IP telephony, the call will be transmitted over the Internet, instead of landline or mobile telephone network. Unlike in the case of these networks the transmission of calls over the Internet is free-of-charge (or only for the price of the Internet connection). Information on the function of the ENUM technology and on the possibilities of its use for individuals, companies as well as operators are available on the Internet address enum.nic.cz.
ENUM in the Czech Republic
CZ.NIC Association launched the commercial operation of the domain name registry of the ENUM system on 22 January 2007. ENUM domains are registered by 21 registrars, and ENUM is supported by the networks of telecommunication operators IPEX, CL-NET and NETWAY. In Europe, ENUM is currently used by Austria, Germany, Poland, Finland, Romania, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland.
This CZ.NIC news release was sourced from www.nic.cz/page/625/enum-is-celebrating-two-years-of-its-commercial-operation/.
To register your .CZ domain name, check out Europe Registry here.