Courtesy of Frank Coluccio, Re VOIP white paper from BellSouth>>>
From: Frank A. Coluccio
Tuesday, Sep 8 1998 9:23AM ET
Reply # of 1269
Some "Key Points" and a "White Paper" from Bell South on their recent action
See bellsouthcorp.com
...for lots more. Regards, Frank Coluccio
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The Key Points:
I. THE DEFINITION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER IS TECHNICALLY
NEUTRAL.
"Telecommunications carrier" is defined in the Act as meaning
generally "any provider of telecommunications services . . . ."
Telecommunications service is defined as "the offering of
telecommunications for a fee directly to the public ...
regardless of the facilities used." (emphasis added). These
definitions comport with all FCC precedent, which recognizes
that the provision of common carriage is a service and pays
no attention to the underlying facilities. Anyone who offers the
public the ability to make interstate telephone calls to any
other phone in the country or world is an interstate carrier.
Indeed, a reseller or least-cost router that utilizes both
Internet telephony and non-Internet telephony services would
have to be considered a carrier under the Act.
II. NO EXEMPTION FOR "INTERNET
TELEPHONY" IS POSSIBLE UNDER THE ACT.
In contrast to "voice over the Internet," which is a way of
using the Internet and not a service, Internet telephony -- the
provision of service from one telephone number to another
telephone number which its provider claims travels in part
over the Internet -- is legally identical to all other toll
telephone services. It is virtually indistinguishable from other
"dial-around" services. It is characterized by per minute
charges which are generally postalized domestically and
which differ significantly by destination internationally. Internet
telephony may be intrastate, interstate, or foreign in character
and. hence, may be subject to different rules and regulatory
authorities.
III. THE FULL PANOPLY OF LAWS AND
REGULATIONS GOVERNING NONDOMINANT
CARRIERS APPLIES TO INTERNET TELEPHONY
PROVIDERS.
A. NO MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE HAS BEEN
(OR PROBABLY CAN BE) DEVELOPED FOR
INTERNET TELEPHONY.
Internet telephony is essentially a meaningless concept. Since
such a call cannot traverse the Internet entirely, any attempt
to define Internet telephony must either describe a call any
portion of which traverses the Internet, or attempt to define
how much Internet activity is necessary. The former is an
open invitation to fraud and inefficient deployment. The latter
would be an administrative nightmare which would also
require regulatory intrusion into the Internet.
B. THE COMMISSION'S RULES, AND
SPECIFICALLY, PART 69 OF THE RULES,
REQUIRE THAT "CARRIERS' CARRIER
CHARGES SHALL BE COMPUTED AND
ASSESSED UPON ALL INTEREXCHANGE
CARRIERS THAT USE LOCAL EXCHANGE
SWITCHING FACILITIES FOR THE PROVISION
OF INTERSTATE OR FOREIGN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES." ( 69.5(b))
A failure by any incumbent local telephone company to
assess these charges is a direct violation of the Commission's
Rules. Of course, providers of Internet telephony are entitled
to the advantages of being carriers, for e.g., Feature Group B
terminations. Every indication is that Internet telephony
providers are taking advantage of these benefits while
denying that they are subject to the obligations of carrier
status.
If access is provided to Internet telephony by CLECs over
their own facilities or over UNEs, the CLEC can charge what
it wishes, at least with respect to interstate access. However,
the division of "meet pont" access charges and the obligation
of the interconnecting parties with respect to jointly provided
interstate access are covered in interconnection agreements.
Obviously, such calls may not legally be subject to reciprocal
compensation for local traffic. Moreover, because a CLEC's
provision of service to a dialaround carrier (regardless of
whether the carrier uses the Internet for some, all, or none of
its calls, or, indeed, whether it is a reseller or least-cost
router) is Feature Group A service, it cannot be provided
over resold exchange lines.
IV. SIGNIFICANT TECHNICAL DIFFERENCES
EXIST WITH RESPECT TO IDENTIFYING CALLS.
IT IS ESPECIALLY SEVERE WITH RESPECT TO
TERMINATING CALLS
The inability to technically identify "access" calls exists in any
case in which a long distance carrier purchases services for
terminating calls. There is also no technical way to distinguish
Feature Group A originations from local calls. Because there
is no technical approach which can "catch" violators, strong
Commission enforcement action and cooperative industry
approaches are required. Rules must require self identification
of all carriers and provide severe penalties for fraud.
=================================
The White Paper
BellSouth's Policies on Internet Telephony
Background -- Long Distance Traffic Over The
Internet
Today, BellSouth charges access charges to Interexchange
Carriers (IXCs) such as AT&T and MCI to originate and
terminate long distance calls. This revenue is used to pay for
use of BellSouth's local facilities and to support Universal
Service.
A number of companies have announced plans to offer IP
telephony long distance services as common carriers.
Additionally, Qwest Communications, IDT, and other
carriers already allow people to make calls using either the
Internet or Internet Protocol (IP) technology (using their
networks much like existing long distance companies).
These companies argue that since they make use of the
Internet (or their own networks using Internet protocols) to
carry their customers' long distance voice traffic, they should
be defined by the FCC as "information service providers"
offering "enhanced services," the same classification that
applies to traditional Internet Service Providers that provide
access to the Internet. Pursuant to the FCC's Enhanced
Service Provider Exemption Rule, Information Service
Providers are not to be assessed access charges;
consequently, these companies argue that they should not be
assessed access charges when they are transmitting voice
traffic.
BellSouth disagrees. Information or enhanced services
providers offer users the ability to interact with stored data
and to retrieve data; for example, to "surf the web," exchange
e-mail or download information. The FCC's access charge
exemption clearly applies to this enhanced traffic. In contrast,
the service offered by these companies is merely basic
long-distance service. The transmission technology
long-distance carriers use to carry calls to their destinations is
irrelevant; if the service offered to the public is long distance
service it is subject to access charges, regardless of the
means of transmission.
Key Points
Access charges paid by long-distance providers
support the cost of maintaining the local phone
network and ensure universal service. In a new
development, there are now companies that provide
long-distance service via the Internet, or using IP
technology, though they still depend upon the local
phone network to receive and deliver the call.
If it functions like a phone and rings like a phone - it's a
phone. These are long-distance calls that originate and
terminate on the local exchange network. They are
long-distance calls subject to access charges just as
are calls carried by any other long-distance company.
BellSouth supports the expansion of the Internet, and
is not by our decision to bill access charges on IP
telephony long-distance, challenging the FCC's current
"enhanced service provider exemption" by which the
FCC exempts Internet data from access charges.
However, any long distance provider is obligated to
pay its share to maintain the local phone network, and
companies who provide IP telephony long-distance
calls are no exception.
IP telephony providers are getting a free ride at the
expense of residential customers, including those who
are not using or can't afford to connect to the Internet.
Other long-distance carriers and their customers are
subsidizing the business of the companies who are
providing this long-distance IP telephony service.
Access charges help provide support to universal
service and keep local rates affordable. If this support
is put at risk because these companies are not paying
access charges as they should, pressure may be put on
local rates going forward.
Both state and federal access charge rules require
interexchange carriers (IXCs) to pay access charges
when using local telephone company facilities to
originate or terminate interexchange, long distance
calls. BellSouth intends to apply access charges to
such IXC traffic.
Some IXCs are attempting to evade the payment of
legitimate access charges by using internet protocol
(IP) to provide a segment of their long distance calls.
Regulatory decisions which exempt Internet service
providers (ISPs) from access charges only apply to
information and enhanced services, not
telecommunications services.
State laws and state commission rules often require
telecommunication carriers to seek state commission
certification. State commissions should assure these
requirements are being met.
IP is used as the operating specifications for the public
Internet. IP works equally well on private networks. IP
can be used to manage information databases or can
be used to transmission voice telephony.
Telephone services are provided by a variety of
facilities, technologies and protocols. Common carrier
status is independent of the technology used.
Telephone services that are provided using IP in one
segment of the call are often referred to as "IP
telephony". IP telephony is identical, by all relevant
regulatory and legal measures, to circuit switched
telephony.
IP telephony is a "telecommunications" service, not an
"information" or "enhanced" service. The Telecom Act
defines "telecommunications" as the "transmission,
between or among points specified by the user, of
information of the user's choosing, without change in
the form or content of the information as sent and
received."
The FCC's Report to Congress states, "Specifically,
when an IP telephone provider deploys a gateway
within the network to enable phone-to-phone service,
it creates a virtual transmission path between points on
the public switched telephone network ... From a
functional standpoint, users of these services obtain
only voice transmission, rather than information
services such as access to stored files. Routing and
protocol conversion within the network does not
change this conclusion, because from the user's
standpoint there is no net change in form or content."
IP telephony providers offer "telecommunications
services". The Telecom Act defines
"telecommunications services" as "the offering of
telecommunications for a fee directly to the public, or
to such classes of users as to be effectively available
directly to the public, regardless of the facilities used."
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding
the FCC's Access Reform Order recognized that if
ISPs use the Internet to provide interexchange
services, then the access exemption would discriminate
against IXCs.
Regulators should take care not to change the entire
access charge system and associated universal service
system merely to favor one technology over another.
Thanks, Frank.
byron |
