Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC’s Decision Against AT&T’s VoIP Garners 5-0 Vote, Raises More Questions

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 00:17:25 -0400

FCC’s Decision Against AT&T’s VoIP Garners 5-0 Vote, Raises More
Questions

April 22, 2004

The FCC on Wednesday (April 21) was preparing to release its
long-awaited decision on AT&T’s petition seeking a declaratory ruling on
its phone-to-phone Voice over Inter Protocol (VoIP) service, sources
tell TelecomWeb’s sister publication, Telecom Policy Report. As
predicted by TPR, the Commission has denied AT&T’s request, ruling that
the carrier’s VoIP offering is, in fact, subject to interstate access
charges. And although the five commissioners voted to deny AT&T’s
petition, at least two of them – Michael Copps and Kevin Martin – are
said to have serious reservations about the denial.

Sources tell TPR that Copps and Martin were under tremendous pressure to
vote with the majority, and that the order denying AT&T’s petition was
crafted in such a way as to make opposition to it appear contrary to the
principles of universal service.
Telecom Policy Report this week predicted that FCC Chairman Michael
Powell would be joined by Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Jonathan
Adlestein in the majority opinion against AT&T. Commissioners Martin and
Copps reportedly were ready to cast dissenting votes, but changed their
minds in virtually the eleventh hour after reviewing a final draft of
the order. The decision will likely be released Wednesday at 4 p.m.
(EDT), sources say.

The Powell-led action very narrowly focuses on AT&T and no other VoIP
provider, a decision that is going to be extremely difficult to justify
if and when the order is appealed to the D.C. Circuit. Many VoIP
proponents, including the Voice on the Net Coalition (VON), fear the
FCC’s handling of the AT&T case will embolden incumbent local exchange
carriers (ILECs) to attempt obtaining similar FCC rulings against other
phone-to-phone VoIP providers. For more in-depth coverage of this
still-developing story, don’t miss next week’s edition of Telecom Policy
Report, the industry’s leading source for behind-the-scenes
investigative business reporting, policy analysis and forecasting.

http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1082572258.htm

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