Just because Comcast’s VoIP service uses ’transmission,’ that doe...
Just because Comcast’s VoIP service uses “transmission,” that doesn’t make it a “telecommunications service” under the Communications Act, said Kathryn Zachem, vice president of regulatory and state legislative affairs, in a letter to the FCC. The letter was a…
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response to questions raised by Wireline Bureau Chief Dana Shaffer and FCC General Counsel Matthew Berry on former Chairman Kevin Martin’s last weekend in office (CD Jan 22 p5). They sought information about how Comcast’s network management practices affected its VoIP service, and suggested that Comcast’s VoIP service could be considered a Title II telecommunications service and subject to more regulation. That assertion “is directly contrary to multiple Commission rulings (and one Supreme Court decision) all of which emphatically refute that notion,” Zachem wrote. “No Bureau or Office has delegated authority to countermand a Commission decision.” The matters would better be taken up in a rulemaking, Zachem said. Several relevant dockets are open, including the IP-enabled services proceeding, she said. “It would be inappropriate and in excess of delegated authority for any Bureau or Office to decide the answers to those questions before the full commission has done so.” Comcast VoIP subscribers don’t have to buy broadband service from the cable operator, and Comcast doesn’t route their phone traffic over the public Internet, Zachem said.