VoIP Regulatory Battles Moving to States
Lack of clarity on VoIP at the federal level opens the door to additional state activity, state officials told us. Regulators in states like Wisconsin are looking at VoIP issues, including authority over the technology. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission had a prehearing Tuesday and will look into the appropriate level of regulation on VoIP. A decision is expected in July.
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The Wisconsin PSC will focus on retail VoIP issues and what regulations are to apply to the service, said Gary Evenson, the head of the telecom division. Staff also proposed to review how the commission should carry out any decision in favor of a deregulatory approach, he said. The commission will look at the advantages and disadvantages of any implementation method suggested. A hearing will be in March, Evenson said. The Wisconsin commission said VoIP is increasingly prominent as a transmission protocol for voice service within conventional copper-based circuit switching technology of the PSTN, and apart from it.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission has been one of the first state regulators to tentatively conclude that fixed VoIP services provided by Time Warner Cable and Comcast are telecom services under state law and so subject to regulation. The commission will issue a final written notice very soon, a staffer said. Meanwhile, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) just began a registration process for VoIP providers. All providers of interconnected fixed or non-nomadic VoIP as of Dec. 1 will be required to register with the ICC by Jan. 1. States like Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico are looking at access surcharges to support state Universal Service Fund programs. Kansas and Nebraska recently amended their request for an FCC declaratory ruling on nomadic VoIP by deleting requests to make any USF assessments retroactive. This clears the way for a declaratory order, which regulatory and industry officials had expected to already have been issued. State officials had indicated they may still seek retroactive payments (CD Sept 21 p6).
VoIP hasn’t been classified as an information or telecom service by the FCC, leaving a door open for the states to take a more aggressive position, said attorney Glen Richards, who has represented VoIP companies. States are looking for new revenue streams as VoIP is getting more mainstream, he said. The FCC’s Vonage order maintains federal preemption of state regulation nomadic VoIP but not of fixed iVoIP services, said consultant Andrew Isar. In the decision, the FCC preempted Minnesota regulators from applying a law requiring state USF contributions from Vonage and others selling IP-enabled services having the same capabilities. “We can anticipate that the states will increasingly” be looking at whether their statutory frameworks will enable reaching conclusions like those in Maine about whether fixed VoIP is a regulated telecom service, Isar said.