The combined entity will be known as the Australian Communications Industry Forum.

Forum CEO Anne Hurley said the expanded organization would provide a stronger voice for the industry, and lead it into the next generation of converging networks (NGN), technologies and services.

"By extending our membership further into the VOIP sector, ACIF will more closely reflect the diversity that characterizes our industry in the next-gen world," she said.

"By bolstering its VOIP expertise, ACIF will be ideally placed to provide balanced and comprehensive input to policy development and debate."

Mike Carew, founder of AVOIPA, agreed that the industry needed more unified representation rather than a multiplicity of specialist organizations.