Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Will FCC Regulate Internet Phone Calls?

Posted by timothy on from the unctuous-rulemakers dept.

Ridgelift writes "The FCC will begin hearings on Monday December 1st to see if they will get involved in regulating calls placed over the internet. Since a federal court in Minnesota ruled a month ago that calls delivered over the Internet are not subject to state regulation, Qwest, Verizon and SBC have all announced their intention to deliver more calls over their data networks. "The stakes in the debate are huge. Federal and state governments could lose billions of dollars in revenue from regulatory fees if calls moved onto the Internet are no longer subject to the charges.""

4 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. What will they do? by ryanr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, let's see... the Federal Government is in charge of deciding whether to regulate it... and the Federal Government stands to lose billions in revenue if they don't regulate it...

    Well, I'm sure they will do the right thing.

    1. Re:What will they do? by silentbozo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is an area where the big telephone companies stand to gain, one way or another. Right now, Qwest and other Baby Bells are pushing to go to VOIP, not because they want to, but because if they don't they're going to get their lunch eaten (much as they were forced to offer DSL to try and kill off their competition.) After all, by offering VOIP, they're cannabalizing local phone service, on which they make TONS of money.

      So why the big push? Well, if the Feds do nothing, they'll need to have a foot in this new market to compete, AND they can save all that money in connection costs for long distance. If the Feds regulate, then the Baby Bells are no worse off than they are now, but all the new VOIP startups get hobbled, big time.

      Several commentators have basically noted that the established teleco's are playing chicken with the Feds - either regulate and put us back on top of the game, or else we'll take all our local service (and your freebie tax revenues) and put it in this new area.

    2. Re:What will they do? by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Umm, long distance is way cheaper than local from a distance versus distance standpoint. Access minutes are basically to suplement the increased costs of providing and maintaining the local loop So pushing traffic off the long-distance networks and onto the local networks (through pushing VOIP and DSL) will cause the ILECs to charge more (we've already gradually seen this happen, as local phone service increases in cost, while long distance decreases in cost [over say, a decade ago]). The ILECs are in a unique position to capitalize on this, but it's not going to get over the problem of the local loop. Some people say wireless will, but I doubt that.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  2. A question.. by KD7JZ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do you consider universal affordable phone service to be a social good worth paying for?

    That goal of universal phone service is possible only because of the current system of regulation. Regulation is an unfortunate term. It is really a system whereby telephone subscribers in populus areas subsidize subcribers in more rural areas. Regulation allows phone providers a consistent rate of return on their capital investment while keeping rates down for everyone.