The FCC should clarify that Section 251 interconnection...
The FCC should clarify that Section 251 interconnection requirements in the Telecom Act apply to VoIP interconnection, Cbeyond, tw telecom, Integra Telecom and EarthLink told the commission in a letter Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fnBSl8). Only by so doing, and applying “established principles…
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of economic theory,” can the FCC ensure a “timely and efficient transition” from TDM to IP-based interconnection for voice services, the telcos said. The commission has long relied on economic theory in passing its rules, and such theory guides here, the groups said: ILECs have “no economic incentive” to provide competitors with opportunities to interconnect, and “strong incentives” to resist interconnection. “These incentives clearly do not depend on the transmission protocol of the traffic exchanged,” the companies said. They encouraged the commission to reject Verizon’s attempt to “manufacture a factual basis for ignoring economic theory” in claiming that it “has business incentives to pursue IP interconnection for VoIP traffic, and it will voluntarily negotiate commercial agreements” in good faith. “This is nonsense,” the companies said.