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November 14, 2003

US Regulation of VoIP is NOT a done deal

Yesterday I had the pleasure to be part of a panel discussion which was hosted by Warren Communications and included both Dr. Robert Pepper of the FCC and John Rego, CFO, Vonage.

The hour and a half roundtable discussion touched on a number of direct questions regarding the future regulation of VoIP and despite Reed Hundt's comments on Tuesday, it is my belief that while the FCC is going forward with their VoIP NPRM, this does not guarantee that the FCC in 2004 or 2005 will actually put in place new regulations in the VoIP sector. In fact, what may happen is the continuation of nothing much other than direct notice to the States not to regulate IP Communications.

While there are a number of issues which need to get addressed and which will get addressed by the IP Communications industry over time, I don't see any direct indications that the FCC is about to start regulating VoIP anytime soon.

Ideally I would like to see the advent of IP Communications become the reason for the introduction of de-regulation of the Communications sector in the US.

Posted by jeff on November 14, 2003 11:18 AM | Permalink

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