Qwest asked the Neb. PSC to reconsider a March decision requiring...
Qwest asked the Neb. PSC to reconsider a March decision requiring facilities-based VoIP providers to pay a state universal service fund contribution on the intrastate portion of their services. Qwest said the PSC order conflicts with federal and state…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
law. It also challenged a PSC finding that Vonage isn’t a facilities- based VoIP provider while Qwest is one. Qwest said the FCC has preempted all state regulation of IP-enabled services like VoIP. Qwest (Case NUSF-40/PI-86) argued that VoIP is an information service, not telecom, and so entirely outside PSC jurisdiction. Qwest said the PSC followed a tortured line of logic in exempting Vonage-type VoIP providers as not facilities-based. The PSC in its order last month had said the FCC hasn’t specifically exempted VoIP from state universal service assessments and surcharges can be levied based on separate prices for the information and telecom components of VoIP service. The PSC said the intrastate portion of VoIP service can be based on actual call data or the FCC’s default safe-harbor allocation.