State commissions urged the FCC to ignore Vonage threats that the...
State commissions urged the FCC to ignore Vonage threats that the company would go to court if the regulator modifies without a rulemaking proceeding a 2004 declaratory ruling preempting state regulation of interconnected VoIP. In a letter Wednesday to…
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the FCC, the Nebraska Public Service Commission and Kansas Corporation Commission said no administrative law bars the FCC from immediately issuing a fresh declaratory ruling saying VoIP must pay state Universal Service Fund fees. “The prospect of judicial review should not prevent the FCC from reaching the right decision, which is to act expeditiously to protect universal service and fair competition (currently nomadic VoIP is the only category of provider not paying state USF assessments) by issuing a second declaratory ruling supplementing, clarifying (or if necessary modifying) the first declaratory ruling issued in 2004,” they said. The Kansas and Nebraska regulators also rejected arguments by the VON Coalition that state USF assessments are “economic and entry regulation” preempted by the 2004 decision (CD Dec 14 p12). State USF assessments create no conflict between federal and state policies that would necessitate preemption, the states said. “Both the FCC and the State Petitioners share the common policy that nomadic VoIP providers, like all their competitors, must do their part to support the paramount statutory mandate of ensuring universal telephone service throughout the Nation.”