Russian businesses have teamed up for lobby against VoIP services such as Skype, saying that the technology constitutes a threat to national security, as well as their business. The lobby, called the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, is working with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's political party to draft "legal safeguards" against VoIP services. Besides, it reckons 40 % of telephone calls could be completed using VoIP services by 2012.

More widespread use of VoIP offers consumers the prospect of much cheaper long-distance calls. Traditional service providers are fighting a rearguard action against the technology, running a campaign that is unashamedly protectionist.

Reuters reports a lobby press release as saying: "Without government restrictions, IP telephony causes certain concerns about security. Most of the service operators working in Russia, such as Skype and Icq, are foreign. It is therefore necessary to protect the native companies in this sector and so forth."

Russian telcos are not the only one that lobbying against VoIP technology. Thus, four years ago Costa Rica's state-owned telecommunications monopoly sought to criminalize internet telephony in the country. More recently, the Indian government tried to prevent outsourcers and other IT businesses in India from sourcing their telecoms services from overseas IP Telephony firms such as Skype and Vonage.