Iowa Mulls Deregulating VoIP, Not Sure if It Regulates VoIP
An Iowa Utilities Board member wrestled with VoIP classification questions during oral argument live-streamed Tuesday from IUB headquarters in Des Moines. As the board mulled a proposed rule in docket RMU-2015-0002 to add VoIP to its list of deregulated services,…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
member Nick Wagner asked what jurisdiction IUB has over VoIP. The board has jurisdiction over voice, but not broadband, and yet VoIP is a voice service that relies on broadband, he said. “How do we go in and pick one specific component?” Industry officials from AT&T, CenturyLink and other telcos said the regulator should see interconnected VoIP as an information service and therefore refrain from regulating it. "Regulations today treat the industry like we're still dealing with that old black rotary phone,” said CenturyLink State Regulatory Affairs Director Wayne Johnson. But AARP Iowa State Director of Advocacy Anthony Carroll said advocates for seniors and other consumers aren’t trying to fight the future by seeking regulation of interconnected VoIP, but want to keep protections consumers have today with traditional landlines. Iowa Consumer Advocate Mark Schuling said the problem with the industry’s classification argument is that the FCC has never definitively resolved whether interconnected VoIP is a telecom or information service. Acknowledging the lack of clarity from the federal regulator, Wagner said, “It would be very helpful if they would.” At the end of the meeting, IUB Chairwoman Geri Huser directed parties to file additional comments on the board’s questions by Sept. 1. The VoIP classification question is also central to a court case in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, where Charter Communications challenged the state Public Utilities Commission assertion of jurisdiction over interconnected VoIP (see 1605060027).