FCC Eyes Regulating Internet Phone Calls
Posted on: Friday, 7 November 2003, 06:00 CST
By JONATHAN D. SALANT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission is taking a look at how to regulate phone calls made over the Internet rather than the conventional handset.
Chairman Michael Powell said Thursday that the panel would hold a forum on the issue Dec. 1 and then ask for public comments on what regulations, if any, should be imposed.
"The deployment of broadband Internet services to every American is a national imperative," Powell said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. "The FCC will continue to stay at the forefront of change."
Wyden's legislation continuing a ban on Internet taxes would not apply to phone service.
Among the issues to be addressed by the FCC are whether Internet phone calls should be regulated like conventional calls and whether providers and users of that service should be required to pay the same taxes and charges that phone customers now pay.
"It raises a lot of concerns," said Commissioner Michael Copps, one of the five-member FCC's two Democrats. "It's nice to see the nascent technologies bloom and blossom ... but there are a lot of question marks out there."
Republican Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy also agreed that the FCC needed to begin looking at how to regulate phone calls made over the Internet.
"The technology is here," she said. "It works. It's time for us to look at our regulations."
Powell's letter follows Tuesday's announcement by Qwest Communications that the regional phone company, which serves western and midwestern states, was planning to offer voice service over the Internet, beginning in Minnesota.
"It's based on our customers' need for these services and we're going to respond to those needs and offer them," Qwest spokeswoman Kate Varden said.
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