The Iowa Utilities Board needs to maintain its...
The Iowa Utilities Board needs to maintain its role in interconnection agreements between service providers during and after the IP transition, said service providers in post-workshop comments. The IUB held a workshop Sept. 10 to get industry and public advocates’…
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responses to questions about its telecom regulation (CD Sept 11 p16). The evolution from TDM to IP technologies does not reduce or eliminate the role of state regulators in defining and promoting public policy objectives, said the Iowa Telecommunications Association (http://bit.ly/1btODbc). VoIP should be treated like any other voice telecommunications service, and a difference in regulatory activity could create “an artificial competitive advantage based on the technology used,” said ITA. The shift to IP networks does not “relieve states of their duty” to promote interconnection regardless of technology, said Sprint and tw telecom in joint comments (http://bit.ly/1eVv0Ly). CenturyLink said technology is not a service “but instead an enabler of services,” in its comments (http://bit.ly/159kjLF). The IUB’s retail regulation of the communications marketplace “should not vary based on technology” and “any ongoing regulation should be provided equally to all providers,” said CenturyLink. In terms of codes, ITA said Iowa Code statute 476.95 needed to be updated for effective broadband deployment in rural and urban areas. T-Mobile disagreed in its comments (http://bit.ly/19kuz4Z), saying the code does not need to change because it has been “successfully implemented” to promote and further competition. Iowa Code statute 476.101 needs to be modernized to “reflect the presence of effective competition in most service areas” and to show any distinctions for “imbalanced competitive advantage to CLECs,” said ITA. CenturyLink said the revamp process needs to be completed before determining the ongoing role for IUB in monitoring competition, and Iowe Code statute 476.101 should be addressed later in workshops or rulemaking. Consumers need to continue addressing their complaints with service quality to the IUB, said the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) in its comments (http://bit.ly/16rq1c6). The IUB’s consumer complaint jurisdiction “not only allows the Board to address problems, it is often the only clue as to where service or infrastructure problems lie,” said the OCA. The IUB does not need material legislative changes because the technology has evolved from circuit-based to IP-based infrastructure, said T-Mobile in its comments. “Carrier networks have been evolving for decades,” said T-Mobile.