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<<New Bill Would Place VoIP Under FCC Regulation
Erika Morphy, www.newsfactor.com
July 8, 2004
Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would make VoIP an interstate service.
Sponsored by Cliff Stearns (R-Florida), who chairs the Subcommittee on Commerce, and Rick Boucher (D-Virginia), who chairs the House Internet Caucus, the "Advanced Internet Communications Services Act" would place authority for VoIP regulation with the FCC (news - web sites) rather than with the states, thus avoiding the legal question of whether it is an information or a telecom service.
Moving into Mainstream
On Wednesday, industry executives testified before Congress, urging the legislative body to curtail the rights of states to levy taxes on their services.
Allowing states to regulate VoIP would result in a "patchwork of premature, burdensome state legislation and regulations, crippling the domestic VoIP industry," Jeffrey Citron, chairman and CEO of Vonage, said in testimony before a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel.
The situation is becoming more dire as VoIP moves into the mainstream, Ron Vidal, group vice president for emerging opportunities at Level 3 Communications, told Congress. "It wasn't long ago that VoIP occupied the fringes of the telecom world -- as a niche application of interest only to hard-core technologists," he said. "Recently, however, VoIP has been able to replicate the quality of the public switched telephone network at far lower cost, while delivering new features and functionality not possible over older, legacy network systems."
Push Back
To be sure, the lobbying from the other side is just as intense. Incumbent carriers, subject to state regulations, "are making a lot of noise about this, which is putting pressure on regulators and politicians," Frost & Sullivan senior analyst Jon Arnold told NewsFactor. "They believe VoIP should be subject to the same rules as circuit-based technology."
The phone companies stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if nothing is done, says Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala. "Carriers are pushing regulation, because VoIP changes the game in terms of how voice services are delivered," he told NewsFactor.
The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) -- not to mention the federal courts -- also has wrestled with this issue, rarely reaching consensus.
The new bill, if passed, would extend federal jurisdiction to all IP services, including cable, thus bypassing states' regulatory bodies.>> |
