|
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) said Wednesday
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should "step
back from its apparent rush" to classify the Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone business
as an information service.
In a process that is expected to take at least a year,
the FCC began proceedings in December to determine what,
if any, telecom taxes and rules should apply to VoIP.
If the FCC determines Internet-based telephony is an
information service, as opposed to a telecommunications
carrier, the emerging technology would be free of many
of the myriad rules and regulations governing traditional
telephone companies.
"As the FCC moves forward in this proceeding, there
are several economic and social implications that must
be considered. Among the most important are universal
service, law enforcement and 911 services," Dingell
said at a House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and
the Internet. "Based on recent news reports, I am concerned
that the FCC chairman is not sufficiently aware of these
issues."
Dingell, the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce
Committee that oversees the telecommunications and entertainment
industries, said it may be "far wiser" for the FCC to
regulate VoIP as a telecom carrier and then "forbear
where appropriate."
While VoIP technology clearly provides telephone
service, it does it by turning voice packets into
data packets and does so over the virtually unregulated
Internet, both public and private, instead of the heavily
taxed and regulated public switched voice telephone
networks (PSTN). The VoIP industry claims it is not
a telecom since it does not deal in voice traffic and
should not be subject to the usual taxes and regulations.
While the FCC has signaled it thinks VoIP should be
as regulation-free as possible, the Department of Justice
has already urged the agency to require VoIP providers
to comply with the Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act (CALEA), which mandates telephone companies,
at their own expense, make their systems wiretap friendly.
There are also concerns about the location accuracy
of 911 calls and whether VoIP telephone companies should
pay fees into the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes
telephone service for low income individuals and schools
and libraries.
Telecom analysts at the hearing, however, said requiring
the VoIP telephony industry to meet the same wiretap
availability and 911 mandates of traditional telephone
companies will have little effect on the expected growth
of VoIP.
Even if VoIP providers are required to comply with
CALEA and 911 rules, Adam Quinton, a telecom analyst
for Merrill Lynch, told the lawmakers that "VoIP will
still offer cheaper service than traditional telephone
companies."
In fact, Quinton predicted, requiring CALEA and 911
compliance "could actually accelerate the growth of
VoIP, making the service comparable to traditional telephone
services."
Frank Louthan, an analyst with Raymond James, said
"technology will solve the law enforcement and 911 issues,
but the other issue to consider is access fees. That
will be the more difficult issue to get around."
In addition to issuing its first proposed VoIP regulations
next week, the FCC is expected to rule in March on several
claims already on file that VoIP services should be
exempt from federal, state and local fees normally charged
on telephone calls.
Long distance carrier AT&T (Quote, Chart) is challenging
the fees it must pay for delivering calls traveling
mostly over the Internet to traditional local carriers.
Free World Dialup, whose calls are routed entirely over
the Internet, is seeking a total exemption from FCC
imposed fees since its traffic never touches the legacy
Bell infrastructure system.
|