BellSouth to charge for Internet phone calls
[[Charlie, All, another cut of the same BellSouth story, this time courtesy of Peter Piper of the VOCLF thread, written by JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press]]
WASHINGTON (September 4, 1998 7:31 p.m. EDT
-- BellSouth Corp. plans to charge companies
that carry long-distance phone calls over the Internet the same fees
traditional long-distance companies must pay, a move that could
narrow the cost savings enjoyed by people making Internet calls.
BellSouth's decision on Friday marks the first time a local phone
company has charged carriers for such calls and is likely to be a
test case for federal regulators.
AT&T, MCI, Sprint and other traditional long-distance companies
currently pay BellSouth and other local phone companies fees,
known as access charges, for connecting long-distance calls. The
fees make up about 40 percent of the average residential
customers' long-distance bill.
Six companies would be affected by BellSouth's decision, said
spokesman Bill McCloskey. The companies have been notified that
that they will begin getting charged for the fees in November.
BellSouth declined to identify the companies.
The change would affect all types of long-distance calls carried
over the Internet except those made by computer users to other
computers or made from telephones to computers.
[[FAC edit: the reasons for this do not stem from any form of altruism, rather, it is because these forms of calls are far more intractable and dogged, and enforcement and billing would be on someone's say so, rather than an audit trail being left behind. And oh yes, it fits in very nicely as a half-way compromise with the sentiment du jour concerning the government's hands-off policies and recommendations. I think that we are about to see SS7 come back here and bite the startups in the ass. What this might also do is accelerate work arounds to the SS7, through the use of alternative directory services schemes and termination strategies using TCP/IP sessions altogether, and may easily result in the ultimate backlash for the incumbents. What do you think? Any comments?]]
Less than one-half of 1 percent of all telephone time is taken up by
Internet calls.
Although McCloskey said BellSouth initially expects to receive little
money from the fees, the amount of money at stake could grow
significantly as more companies provide Internet calling.
However, the prospect of such fees could dim the allure of cheap
phone calling over the Internet.
One big reason these calls are far less expensive than traditional
long-distance calls is because federal regulators have not required
companies that provide them to pay access fees to local phone
companies.
"BellSouth is creating a test case and is forcing the process," said
Scott Cleland, an analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. in
Washington.
Federal Communications Commission officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity, agreed with the assessment.
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