Earlier this week, French regulator ARCEP revealed that it is reporting Microsoft's Luxembourg-based Skype subsidiary to the Paris prosecutor over the company's failure to register as a telecom operator in accordance with the country's law; a move which raises the question of what comprises a telephone company in the age of Internet-based communications.

ARCEP said that its move against Skype had stemmed from the fact that the company had failed to "declare itself an electronic communications operator," even though the regulator had, "on several occasions," asked the company to do so.

Noting that Internet telephony services like Skype use the voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) system to enable chats and video meetings over the Internet, ARCEP said that a firm which acts as a telecom operator incurs certain obligations, chiefly those pertaining to "routing emergency calls and putting in place a means for allowing legal wiretapping."

Further pointing out that the Skype users can make calls from a smartphone or a computer, ARCEP said that, "in effect," the service offered by Skype "constitutes furnishing a telephone service to the public."

About turning the Skype case to the Paris prosecutor, ARCEP said that the French law requires "only a prior declaration" - rather than administrative authorization - from a telecom operator; and added that failure to follow the law is considered a criminal offense.