The moves are designed to ensure more opportunities for consumers through VoIP, while recognizing the advantages of other services in terms of communications costs, innovative services and features, greater economic productivity and growth and expanded network redundancy.

The agency released a long-awaited notice that commissioners recognized not only that Internet services should continue to be subject to minimal regulation, but also that mechanisms to implement important social objectives, such as public safety, emergency 911, law enforcement access, consumer protections and disability access, may change as communications migrate to Internet-enabled services. In connection with this proceeding, the FCC announced that it will initiate a Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement (CALEA) rulemaking to address the technical issues associated with law-enforcement access to Internet-enabled services. That proceeding will address the scope of covered services, assign responsibility for compliance, and identify the wiretap capabilities required.

In addition to seeking comment on the appropriate regulatory treatment of Internet services, the notice will include broad questions covering a wide range of services and applications to differentiate between Internet services and traditional telephony services and to distinguish among different classes of Internet services.

Specifically, the notice asks which regulatory requirements — for example, those relating to E911, disability accessibility, access charges, and universal service — should be extended to different types of Internet services. The notice also asks questions on the legal and regulatory framework for each type of Internet service and the relevant jurisdictional considerations for each category. According to an FCC spokesperson, the notice is expected to be issued next week, where it will then be open for comment for 60 days, followed by 30 days of replies. "After 90 days we expect to start analyzing the issues presented in that time."

The agency also ruled that pulver.com's Free World Dialup (FWD) offering will remain a minimally regulated competitive option for consumers. Pulver's FWD allows for free VoIP calls, or other peer-to-peer communications, directly to other FWD members. In 2003, pulver filed a petition for declaratory ruling requesting that the FCC rule FWD to be neither a "telecommunications service" nor "telecommunications," and therefore not subject to traditional telephone regulation.

In a statement, the FCC said that today's ruling means that it has, "declared FWD to be an unregulated information service that is subject to federal jurisdiction."

According to an FCC spokesperson, the ruling applies not only to FWD but to any VoIP service that incorporates similar technology and methodology, "the equipment is available off the shelf."

By: DocMemory
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