The FCC should without delay require interconnected VoIP provider...
The FCC should without delay require interconnected VoIP providers to contribute to state universal service based on intrastate traffic revenue, said the National Association of State Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Brad Ramsay, the association’s general counsel, met last week with…
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!
an aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski, said an ex parte filing late Monday. Not even Vonage has disagreed with the view that nomadic VoIP providers should contribute to state funds, the association said. Vonage contends that the FCC’s 2004 preemption order concerning the company said the commission was preempting states charging, but this month said the commission is “free to revisit its decision” by opening a rulemaking (CD Aug 18 p4). But the association said there’s “no legal or policy reason to delay issuing the requested declaration.” Without further proceedings, the FCC could clarify that a June 2006 order provided a method for assessing a state USF charge, it said. In that order, the commission created a “safe harbor” for setting federal USF contributions, because of the difficulty of separating intrastate and interstate revenue with VoIP. The FCC said 64.9 percent of VoIP revenue is subject to federal USF contribution. The association asked the FCC to clarify that the order “necessarily assumes a complementary State safe harbor of 35.1 percent without any additional proceedings.”