Internet Protocol-enabled services are the foundation of Comcast’s...
Internet Protocol-enabled services are the foundation of Comcast’s voice networks, even as it is transitioning from legacy systems to new ones, Comcast Division Vice President, Engineering-Product Operations David Kowolenko told the Vermont Public Service Board Friday in prefiled testimony. He…
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answered questions as part of a docket reviewing the regulators’ past decision about their authority over interconnected VoIP and classifying it as a telecom service rather than an information service. The Vermont Supreme Court had remanded earlier this year the board’s past VoIP decision back to the board on the grounds that the federal government has not yet firmly said whether VoIP is an information or telecom service (CD April 2 p14). The board plans to take up the issue again throughout the coming months in docket 7316. Kowolenko described Comcast’s changes since the regulators first examined the issues and “the flexible, advanced nature of Comcast’s IP network and VoIP offerings.” “They are not hemmed in by traditional circuit switched technology, and will only continue to advance in terms of features, offerings and functionality. As the differences between my testimony today and my testimony a few years ago demonstrate, the service offering is constantly evolving because the IP-based nature of the offering allows for tremendous interoperability with advanced functions, as well as nomadic capability.” He specified multiple times that he did not intend to address the legal issues so much as describe Comcast’s network from the engineering perspective. Comcast’s network is IP-based but it can adjust calls to connect with the public switched telephone network, he added.