The VON Coalition tried to...
The VON Coalition tried to hold off an impending order giving states the right to assess Universal Service Fund levies on nomadic VoIP providers, said an ex parte notice filed by the group late Tuesday. Executive Director Glenn Richards said…
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he met with Commissioner Meredith Baker’s new wireline adviser, Brad Gillen, and Chairman Julius Genachowski’s wireline adviser Zac Katz and argued that the FCC’s 2004 Vonage preemption order ought to keep states from levying their own USF fees on nomadic carriers. Last month, at eighth-floor urging, Kansas and Nebraska amended their request for a declaratory ruling on nomadic VoIP by deleting requests to make any USF assessments retroactive. This clears the way for a declaratory order, which FCC and industry officials had expected to already have been issued. State officials indicated they may still seek retroactive payments (CD Sept 21 p6). This has the VON Coalition worried. “The commission must make clear that it is changing (and not simply clarifying) the law, or there … may be unnecessary litigation,” Richards said.