VoIP Could ‘Unravel’ USF, Intercarrier Comp Reforms, Panelists Say
The FCC’s failure to deal with VoIP endangers the commission’s broader Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms, said Windstream Vice President for Federal Government Affairs Eric Einhorn Monday. The commission’s rulemaking notice isn’t definitive about VoIP traffic, he said at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ winter meeting, and without clarity nagging questions “could unravel the system before we even get to intercarrier compensation reform.” Einhorn was part of a panel on USF/intercarrier comp reform.
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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman James Cawley agreed, saying the rulemaking notice “falls short on VoIP.” “We're still waiting for VoIP to be classified and the states are struggling,” he said. “We're grappling with problems that could be cured if the FCC would only give us some guidance.” Overall, Cawley said he feared the commission was showing “an unfortunate tendency to run things from Washington."
But it would be unwise to tackle VoIP questions until we know “who’s going to pay for it,” said Joseph Miller of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He said he was skeptical that communications were migrating fully to Internet protocol and that left unanswered questions about how to pay for IP-IP calls, and what happens when IP-originated calls terminate on traditional switched access lines. The key question for any USF reform is whether customers can afford it, Miller said.
On that bigger question of affordability, most of the panelists agreed. Consumers Union Counsel Parul Desai said she hoped the commission doesn’t lose sight of customers’ bills when it overhauls USF and intercarrier comp. George Mason University Professor Jerry Ellig said the central question was, “How can we replace USF without repeating the mistake of putting a fee on a price-sensitive service?"
AT&T Vice President for Governmental Affairs Joel Lubin said he regretted that the commission hadn’t tackled contribution factor in its rulemaking notice, but argued that the FCC was heading in the right direction, despite the lack of a clear “end game.” Pennsylvania’s Cawley said contribution was “the elephant in the room.” Much of the rulemaking appears to “preempt” the states, especially when it calls to phase out high-cost funding for competitive eligible telecommunications carriers.