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FCC Wants No State Strings Attached To VoIP |
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FCC Wants No State Strings Attached To VoIP
November 10, 2004
By Jason Lopez
The Federal Communications Commission voted to strike down state regulation of VoIP services. The ruling is a step in a larger set of decisions on broadband services slated for spring of next year.
Specifically, the FCC said that Minnesota could not regulate Vonage's DigitalVoice VoIP service. The state's Public Utilities Commission had moved to regulate the digital telephony service by separating it into intrastate and interstate pieces. Through Vonage's case the FCC reiterated its authority to set rules for interstate communications.
Market Solution
The FCC is nurturing the broadband industry in the U.S. One of the main items on its agenda is to clear the air surrounding conflicting state regulations of the Internet and broadband services. "The Commission sees today's decision as a pro-competitive play," said Mark Wigfield, spokesperson for the FCC's wireline competition bureau.
"The idea is that disparate state regulations slow the rollout of broadband services," he told NewsFactor. "When everyone is on the same page, the economics make more sense and it helps to encourage demand."
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Posted by vonage on Friday, November 12 @ 00:07:31 UTC
(615 reads)
Read More: FCC Wants No State Strings Attached To VoIP
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FCC: States Can't Regulate Net Phones |
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FCC: States Can't Regulate Net Phones Dozens Of Rules Are Too Many, The Agency Says. But Worries About 911 And Universal Service Remain
November 10, 2004
By Anne C. Mulkern
Washington - Phone calls made over the Internet cannot be regulated by states, the Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday.
By a 5-0 vote, the FCC said Internet-based phone service, called voice-over-Internet protocol or VoIP, should be free to grow without a "patchwork" of regulations put in place by 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Moreover, Internet-based service is not local, or even national in nature, commissioners said.
"The genius of the Internet is that it knows no boundaries. In cyberspace, distance is dead," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said. "Communication and information can race around the planet and back with ease."
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Posted by vonage on Friday, November 12 @ 00:04:30 UTC
(962 reads)
Read More: FCC: States Can't Regulate Net Phones
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FCC Pulls Voice-Over Internet From States |
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FCC Pulls Voice-Over Internet From States
November 10, 2004
U.S. regulators have moved to place the emerging voice over Internet phone services squarely under federal control.
The Federal Communications Commission granted a petition Tuesday by Vonage Holdings that its service be treated as interstate, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Although Minnesota's public utilities regulators had been seeking jurisdiction of the service, the FCC said that because customers could use the service from a cell phone anywhere in the world it was most naturally a federal rather than a state concern.
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Posted by vonage on Friday, November 12 @ 00:01:06 UTC
(621 reads)
Read More: FCC Pulls Voice-Over Internet From States
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FCC Takes The Reins On VoIP |
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FCC Takes The Reins On VoIP
November 10, 2004
By Staff
The US Federal Communications Commission has continued on the road towards taking a position on voice over IP services with a ruling that will see some VoIP regulated on the federal level, rather than by each of the US states.
The FCC said its ruling, which stated that Vonage Holdings Corp and some cable company VoIP services are not subject to state telecommunications regulation, "adds to the regulatory certainty the Commission began building" earlier this year.
But the two democrats on the Commission limited their support of the move to concurring and expressed frustration that the FCC is addressing VoIP in a "piecemeal" fashion, and that it has yet to have an overall VoIP strategy.
The FCC said that Vonage's DigitalVoice product "cannot practically be separated into intrastate and interstate components", meaning it should not be subject to potentially 51 different sets of regulation from the states and District of Columbia.
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 23:57:27 UTC
(648 reads)
Read More: FCC Takes The Reins On VoIP
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FCC Vote Is Good News For VOIP |
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FCC Vote Is Good News For VOIP
November 10, 2004
By Ellen Muraskin
Tuesday's FCC vote exempting Vonage Holding Corp. from "traditional state public utility regulation" comes as no surprise and gives the VOIP (voice over IP) industry cause for celebration. In the decision, the commission stated that it—and not individual states—would decide which regulations apply to VOIP. The official order will be handed down in two weeks.
The FCC's five commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Vonage, with the two Democratic members, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, "concurring" but expressing some reservations about the regulatory decisions left unmade. These issues, including intercarrier compensation (fees paid between carriers for completing a subscriber's call); universal service fees to subsidize rural carriers, and emergency 911 services, are to be ironed out in the ongoing "IP-Enabled Services Proceeding." No deadline was given.
Even at this point, however, the ruling clears the way for existing VOIP service providers to continue their rollout into new markets. It encourages the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) incumbents who've launched VOIP services of their own. For business and residential customers, it portends a wide choice of providers and hot competition to differentiate based on customized services.
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 23:54:21 UTC
(663 reads)
Read More: FCC Vote Is Good News For VOIP
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F.C.C. Takes On Oversight Of Internet Phone Services |
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F.C.C. Takes On Oversight Of Internet Phone Services
November 10, 2004
By Stephen Labaton
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The Federal Communications Commission seized regulatory control over Internet-based telephone services on Tuesday by issuing an order that sharply limited the role of state regulators.
In a unanimous ruling, the commission said that Minnesota could not impose regulations on these services. That included a requirement that one of the leading companies in the field, Vonage, must offer to all Internet phone customers emergency 911 service similar to that offered by the traditional phone companies.
The decision, if upheld by a federal appeals court considering the matter, would set the precedent of limiting state regulators to issues of consumer fraud, general commercial law and state taxes. Regulators in Minnesota and New York were blocked by federal courts when they tried to require Vonage to be certified by the states and subject to the rules that govern traditional phone services.
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 04:15:56 UTC
(639 reads)
Read More: F.C.C. Takes On Oversight Of Internet Phone Services
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Telecom Turnaround |
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Telecom Turnaround
November 10, 2004
By Staff
The Bush Administration got off to a poky start on telecom policy, but Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell seems to be revving things up. The latest example is an Internet vote he won yesterday that has the potential to reshape the industry from the ground up.
At issue is a new technology known as Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP. Put simply, VOIP allows consumers to place telephone calls over the Internet -- and it's growing like gangbusters. One of the leading providers, Vonage, requested that the FCC declare its product an "interstate service," and Mr. Powell won the votes to do exactly that.
Yesterday's ruling is the first time the FCC has exempted an Internet voice service from state regulation.
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 04:13:39 UTC
(731 reads)
Read More: Telecom Turnaround
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FCC Gives Vonage Interstate Status |
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FCC Gives Vonage Interstate Status In Win For Internet-Phone Firms
November 10, 2004
By Staff
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission Tuesday granted a petition by Vonage Holdings Corp. asking that its voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, service be treated as interstate, putting it under federal jurisdiction.
The ruling shields Internet telephony services like Vonage's from state regulatory oversight, including similar Internet-enabled services provided by cable companies.
"What today's decision does is put the commission in a firm position of responsibility," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
Vonage Chief Executive Jeffrey Citron said in a prepared statement that "because the FCC has acknowledged the reality of the Internet -- which knows no state boundaries and no borders -- more people will enjoy the benefits of Internet phone service."
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 04:11:01 UTC
(648 reads)
Read More: FCC Gives Vonage Interstate Status
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FCC Exempts VOIP From State Rules |
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FCC Exempts VOIP From State Rules; The Action Gives A Boost To Internet Phone Call Providers. One Group Calls It Anti-Consumer
November 10, 2004
By Jube Shiver Jr
Federal regulators gave a big boost to Internet phone call providers Tuesday by protecting the rapidly growing service from state regulation.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 5 to 0 to give Internet telephony companies the sort of relative regulatory freedom enjoyed by the cellphone industry.
The unanimous decision -- rare for the FCC -- is expected to speed the rollout of voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, which is hailed by many as the next frontier in the $300-billion telecommunications industry.
The California Public Utilities Commission and other states' regulatory agencies can impose some taxes and fees on Internet calls but are now precluded from imposing VOIP regulations that potentially would be conflicting.
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 04:08:56 UTC
(701 reads)
Read More: FCC Exempts VOIP From State Rules
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Internet Phone Rules Curbed |
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Internet Phone Rules Curbed
States Can't Regulate Services, FCC Rules
November 10, 2004
By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo
States cannot regulate the rapidly growing, significantly cheaper Internet telephone services that are luring away the nation's telephone customers from traditional phone lines, the Federal Communications Commission ruled Tuesday.
The ruling does not answer all questions about what's widely considered to be the next big thing in telecommunications. But it opens the gates a little wider to an expected flood of offerings from major phone companies like Qwest Communications International as well as new competition from cable companies.
West metro's cable provider Time Warner Communications, in fact, will announce its own Internet phone service today for Minneapolis and some Twin Cities suburbs. Qwest, which began a trial Internet phone service in Minnesota last January, has promised residential service in its entire 14-state territory by the end of this year, while Comcast cable is testing its own service outside of Minnesota.
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Posted by vonage on Thursday, November 11 @ 04:06:43 UTC
(679 reads)
Read More: Internet Phone Rules Curbed
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