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: FCC in a quandary over VoIP
From: dave () farber net
Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 18:54 -0400
...... Forwarded Message ....... From: Daniel Berninger <dan () danielberninger com> To: dave () farber net Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 15:05:54 -0400 Subj: FCC in a quandary over VoIP Dave, For IP if of interest. The article addresses the potential for VoIP to bring communication services to the 5 million households presently unable to afford telephone service (even given the so called Universal Service Program). Dan 202.250.3428 http://www.danielberninger.com
FCC in a quandary over VoIP Internet phone service is cheap, if it's not subject to access fees By Jon Van Tribune staff reporter Published May 22, 2004 A former Ameritech executive believes he can deliver phone service through the Internet to low-income people for $5 a month. Dwayne Goldsmith, now chief of Detroit-based Inflexion Communications Corp., and his bargain-phone scheme embody the promise and peril of Internet telephony. Most experts agree that the technology, called voice over Internet protocol, is far cheaper and more feature rich than regular phone service. But the VoIP technology runs smack into a thicket of regulations, fees and taxes that dominate traditional phone service. If Inflexion's $5 service were subject to these regulations and fees, the cost structure wouldn't work. Many of those fees were established to promote universal phone service that helps the poor--now they could prevent public housing residents from getting phones, Goldsmith said. "It doesn't make sense to collect all these dollars and then push them back to the very phone companies that failed to provide truly universal service," he said. Inflexion has asked the Federal Communications Commission to exempt its service from the system of subsidized payments that characterizes traditional phone service. So-called access fees typically paid by long-distance companies like AT&T Corp. to local phone companies like SBC Communications Inc. were instituted decades ago to keep local phone service rates low. But Inflexion's ultralow rates won't be possible if it is subject to access fees, Goldsmith argues. Goldsmith wants to supply high-speed Internet connections to densely occupied housing projects in Detroit, offering phone service as a Web-based application, much like e-mail. Residents who have computers could access the Internet from Inflexion's system, but others without computers would be supplied with phones to use Internet telephony. Inflexion would avoid the expense of billing and metering the service by selling communications in bulk to landlords who could add $5 a month to rent to cover costs, he said. FCC Chairman Michael Powell has called for "lightly regulated" Internet telephony, and Congress recently approved extending a tax moratorium on Internet services. But whether the FCC will grant Inflexion's plea to avoid traditional phone fees is unknown. Last month the FCC unanimously turned down a request from AT&T Corp. that would exempt it from paying traditional access charges on calls that use VoIP technology. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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