Vonage Triumphant Following VoIP Ruling

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

05 January 2005

Following its recent court victory in Minnesota, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider, Vonage has expressed its readiness to take on other state authorities over the regulation of internet telephony.

The ruling delivered by the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals last month upheld a lower court's decision, which stated that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission cannot regulate VoIP in the same way that it regulates ordinary telephone calls.

This verdict was also supported by the Federal Communications Commission, which announced in November of last year that the firm's DigitalVoice service should not be subject to traditional state public utility regulation.

In an interview with Internetnews.com last week, Vonage's CEO, Jeffrey Citron revealed that the latest court victory has increased the firm's confidence in this area.

"If California should proceed with litigation, we would fight that," he told the news service, adding:

"How many victories do we need before people know this is the way it's going to be?"

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