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New FCC Sheriff Gunning for VOIP
By Mark Evans | March 20, 2005
In addition to Om Malik's posting on whether VOIP service providers will have to pay access fess to ILECs and CLECs, Voxilla's Carolyn Shuk writes the new FCC chair Kevin Martin is nowhere near as VOIP-friendly as his predecessor, Michael Powell. Martin apparently believes VOIP players should contribute to a universal service fund, which is used to subsidize basic phone services for high-cost rural areas and low-income consumers. It is kind of like a FCC-managed investment program for the PSTN system. VOIP service providers have two concerns: the costs to contribute could be seen as a tax on innovation and competition, and no USF money goes to other broadband operators like cablecos. I think what we're increasingly seeing is an aggressive push-back by ILECs who have been lobbying for years that VOIP is getting a free ride. That may true but ILECs are also developing their own VOIP services so there's a conflict there. This offers a huge opportunity for cablecos to gain a lot of VOIP momentum. As the ILECs go to war with VOIP, the cablecos - if they're smart - will push out their own services, while letting new VOIP players do their thing without much interference.
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March 20th, 2005 at 8:54 am
At the recent VON, an FCC representative claimed that VoIP providers DO contribute to USF. The whole thing is confusing to me.
Aswath