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California Demands Licensure For VoIP Providers

Posted by timothy on from the extortionate-troglodytes dept.

muonzoo writes "Looks like California will be wrangling up the VoIP companies and mowing them down. Or, at least licensing them. CNET has a story about state legislators' push for all VoIP companies in the state to carry a Telephone Operator License. CNET also has a quick blurb about Vonage and how they have recently started charging customers a 'Regulatory Recovery Fee.' Ugly stuff for a young industry." Here's our earlier post about Vonage charging the regulatory recovery fee.

2 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Bullshit by eln · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just because VoIP involves voice, that does NOT mean it's the same as telephone service. The monopolistic nature of telephone service (only one company can realistically have lines in a given area, particularly in the "last mile") makes heavy regulation and regulatory fees necessary. VoIP does not suffer from this physical limitation to competition, and thus any number of VoIP providers can exist in any area. This is yet another blatant attempt of government to cash in on an emerging technology.

  2. Triple Bullshit on you by muckdog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You are already paying tax and regulatory fees for your cable and DSL lines. Why should you have to pay them again for VoIP?