US Group Lobbies Against Increased VoIP Regulation

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

07 June 2004

The US government is being urged by a technology industry lobby group not to impose traditional telephone regulations on the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) industry.

Following recent moves by several state authorities, such as California's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to impose tougher regulation on the fledgling sector, the Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition has called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to classify VoIP as an "unregulated information service" subject only to federal jurisdiction.

The Coalition, which numbers firms such as AT&T, Intel, Microsoft and MCI amongst its members, is arguing that consumers of VoIP and related services are likely to lose out if the industry is hamstrung by red tape.

Speaking last week, communications policy director for Intel, Peter Pitsch explained that:

"We are informing the FCC that with the right policies, VoIP can help deliver new innovations and more affordable ways to communicate. VoIP also can be a force for increased competition, a platform for innovation, a driver of broadband deployment, and an enabler of economic growth."

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