Industry Lining Up Against Feature Group IP Forbearance
As a Feature Group IP forbearance petition on VoIP access charges heads into its final week, the company is seeing little support and much opposition from the rest of the industry. Feature Group IP, a competitive local exchange carrier serving VoIP companies, wants the FCC to rule that VoIP providers need not pay access charges to interconnect with traditional public switched telephone network carriers. Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated two orders, one granting and one refusing relief. The FCC must issue a decision by Jan. 21.
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Late Friday, the FCC extended to April 11 the deadline on a similar forbearance petition by Embarq. The mid-sized carrier asked for relief opposite to Feature Group; Embarq wants the FCC to rule that access charges apply to IP-PSTN traffic. In its Friday order, the FCC said “the petition under review raises significant questions.”
Feature Group IP blitzed the eighth floor last week. Wednesday, the company met with the Wireline Bureau and aides to Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell; Thursday, with an aide to Martin; and Friday with Commissioner Michael Copps.
But the company’s petition has received flak from many big industry players. Last week, USTelecom, CompTel and NCTA urged the FCC to deny forbearance relief to the carrier (CD Jan 12 p8). They said the FCC should tackle the issue instead in the context of the intercarrier compensation or another rulemaking. Rural trade associations and multiple CLECs also lined up against Feature Group last week. Eighth floor offices heard opposition from the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, the National Exchange Carrier Association, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Western Telecommunications Alliance and the Organization for the Promotion & Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. Visiting CLECs included TW Telecom, Paetec, Cavalier Telephone, Broadview Networks, XO Communications, One Communications and Cbeyond.
Opponents said the FCC should deny the Feature Group petition on procedural grounds, because they say forbearance wouldn’t give Feature Group the relief it seeks, an industry official said. The FCC once denied a Core Communications forbearance petition for that reason, the official said. Even if the FCC grants Feature Group forbearance, the commission would have to adopt a new rule to apply reciprocal compensation rules to VoIP traffic, the official said. But under statutory forbearance rules, the FCC may not make new rules in the context of a forbearance proceeding, the source said.
McDowell could be the wildcard in the Feature Group case, said one industry official. In a development not expected by Feature Group, the official said, it looks like Copps and Adelstein may be opposed to the petition. Feature Group timed the filing of its petition with the anticipation that a new, Democratic FCC would rule on -- and grant -- the petition Jan. 21, a day after inauguration, the official said. But it’s Chairman Martin who has championed VoIP interconnection in recent days, the source said. With Commissioner Deborah Tate gone, Feature Group needs McDowell on their side, because a 2-2 decision would mean the petition is deemed granted, the official said.
Even if Democratic commissioners are opposed, party politics probably aren’t at play in this case, industry and agency officials said. The IP-PSTN interconnection issue has not historically split on party lines, an FCC official said.
McDowell appears ready to side with the Democrats, because of the procedural issues raised by opponents, said an industry official opposing the petition. Martin is seen as more favorable to Feature Group, the official said. McDowell, Copps and Adelstein are uncomfortable with how Feature Group presented IP-PSTN interconnection, because forbearance might not result in the relief the carrier wants and instead create more uncertainty, the official said. Commissioners seem “deeply” committed to avoiding a 2-2 vote producing a “deemed granted” automatic approval, the source added.